Tip for leaking dishwasher

[The Natural Philosopher]

Thought this might be worth passing on.

about a year ago the built-in dishwasher started dumping pools of water on the floor. Nothing was done except we didn't use it as if there is one thing I hate, its pulling dishwashers apart.

Then a friend arrived and said 'i've pulled half a dozen apart, cant be that bad'

So we set to.

First we properly located the replacement pump motor and its pipe that the last dishwasher repair man had failed to install correctly. Still leaked.

The we disassempled the drain sump amd removed the cherry pips and olive pips. Still leaked. Then we re attached the pipe we had probably pulled off when fixing the pump motor. Still leaked.

About this time it blew the RCD and that was an hour getting the wifes mac to work again. Because the silly **** had rebooted it BEFORE the server which it depends upon for her inboard TV to have somewhere to write, would work..and it wasn't even then showing up as a networked drive..finally after several attempts nmbd daemon restarted after presumably clearing out old crashed run files..

In desperation with wife frowning badly at the bow third time mopped up floor, we took the sie off and discovered some really vile engineering. there was a sort of plastic mixing tank for the softener with two pipes that located inside tow other pipes using O-ring seals. Both were leaking badly.

we removed it, cleaned the faces and tried again. Still leaked.

Pondering silicone sealer or hot glue, no o-rings suitable in house..then friend had brainwave. PTFE tape wound round the tube to increase diameter, reassemble and BINGO. It's still fine after two weeks.

Wife only frowning over Cameron wetness with respect to Europe, now.

Whole episode reminded me of Freelander light cluster repair. WHY use a connector that fails when the thing will never ever need to be replaced in the machines lifetime? Because it takes to long to solder on a production line. Same with this tank thing. The tank wouldn't ever go, no need to have it removable. Pure production penny pinching.

Sigh. Miele if it breaks again.

[Onetap]

Strange. What make is it?

[John]

Strange. What make is it?

I had something similar on a Hoover. I got two new "O" Rings for the stubs that fit into the plastic thing that has lots of passages in it. Fixed for

18p

[The Natural Philosopher]

No one knows.

The data I have says its a model BF72, and the back of the manual says

General Domestic Appliances Limited.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Plus the ten man hours to find the leak and get the parts..

[John MacLeod]

Miele's no guarantee it won't break. And if it does break, be prepared for spare parts to cost hundreds rather than tens of pounds. And over =A3100 to get a Miele-approved serviceman on-site to reset the electronics.

Nor are Miele exempt from production engineering bodges.

I've fixed two Miele faults within the past six months on my own equipment. First was a failed pump. Should never have happened. Duff design. Impeller shaft fractured because it was far too thin in far too poor a quality of steel. Replacement Miele part would have been about =A3100. Got a third-party replacement from UK Whitegoods.

Second problem was more annoying -- main fill solenoid valve not operating properly. On most machines, no problem. Fit a valve cannibalised from another machine. Done it before without difficulty. No chance on the Miele -- all three solenoid operated valves are on one manifold which can't be readily dismantled. Replacement again somewhere in the =A3100 range and the machine was needed immediately. Switched the wiring around so that the wire to the main inlet solenoid was parallelled with the wire to the prewash solenoid. SWMBO never uses prewash anyway, so now all she's got to remember is to put the powder in the right-hand dispenser section and, if she should ever want to use the prewash, remember that she'll have to add powder for the main wash once it's used the prewash stuff. Repair cost NIL, but designing the machine so that if a solenoid- operated valve fails all three must be replaced with a vastly- expensive proprietary part is a naughty production-engineering trick.

John

[Skipweasel]

I can get the main circulating pump out of our Bosch in an hour and back again in 90 mins. I might have to soon, now the spare shaft seal has arrived.

[Skipweasel]

Hotpoint/Creda/Canon.

BF72 is a Hotpoint model.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Bookmarked.

[Theo Markettos]

It's like cars. Buying new bits from BMW or service from a franchised dealer is going to cost an arm and a leg. There are some aftermarket parts for frequently-replaced bits. But cheapest to keep a scrap unit and rob it for parts when necessary. It helps if you can get hold of the parts book for the unit, so you can phone up the manufacturer and quote their own parts numbers at them.

Where it differs is the appliance service market is much smaller and so these things are a lot harder to find. But for Mieles it all does exist. And like cars, the older ones are easier to service and built better (OK, maybe not like cars then).

Theo

[John MacLeod]

Well, how about spilling the beans with regard to Miele parts? I'm aware of refurbished electronics available on ebay from Germany but what about reset codes etc.?

John

[Theo Markettos]

Afraid I haven't worked on anything with a microprocessor in it (or only a very simple one) - 1980s stuff, and I've only worked on the watery bits. Just like cars really... back then they were easy to fix, now you have to dance with the computer. (and there's no such thing as aftermarket VAG COM or similar)

I did some heavy googling and found a parts list for a model similar to mine (in French). Then I could google for the part numbers, and ring up Miele UK to ask for a quote. There were also some on eBay (knowing the German term helps), though it turned out to be about the same to get from Miele UK.

If you have the space and want to keep yours running, I'd really suggest the easiest way is to scan eBay for a second unit to rob for spares... a lot cheaper than any significant new bits.

Theo