Do You have a Miele W502 Front Loader Washer which goes out of balance regularly?
Miele Washing machines with the Model number of W502 or similar can develop an out of balance problem when they reach the 5 year age. Of corse this will depend on how many loads are going through the machine per week. This may also depend on the size and type of load typically put through the machine. This is not a manufacturing fault with the washing machine, it is just a maintenance issue which needs to be rectified after a certain amount of use.
Miele W502 Front Loader Washer
The Miele front loading washing machine like many other front loaders has a pair of shock absorbers which support the bowl. These shock absorbers work similarly to the shock absorbers in your car. As the clothing in the washing machine is moved around in the bowl, the shockies absorb that movement so that it is not transferred to the outside of the machine. Without these shockies in the machine, it would have to be bolted down to the floor so that it did not vibrate the machine to pieces. The manufacturers have worked how much absorption is required to keep the machine still without having to bolt it to the floor. When the shock absorbers become worn, they don’t absorb the movement of the load anymore and so the loads go out of balance more regularly.
The manufacturers of front loaders like Miele have a couple other components which also help with the vibrations.
- They also use springs which the bowl hangs off of and suspends the bowl so that the shock absorbers can do their job.
- The manufacturers build weight into the machine by adding either concrete blocks of like in Miele case cast iron. This weight is placed around the outside of the bowl and this softens some of the vibration and counterbalances and imbalances in the load of clothing.
- The speed control between wash and spin is critical to distribute the clothing around the inner bowl evenly. If this was not achieved all the clothing would be on one side of the bowl and would throw the bowl out of balance.
Miele Shock Absorbers
These components will not be able to compensate for the load when the shock absobers are worn. It is time to have them replaced. A front load may go out out of balance on a rare occasion usually if you have one heavy article with the rest light article, but it should not be going out of balance regularly. If the worn shock absorbers are left too long the severe vibrations could cause problems to the rest of the machine. On the early model W828 the severe vibration would actually cause the electronic to fuse which turned into a real expensive repair.
If your Miele front loader is going out of balance call your local Miele trained service mechanic to replace the shock absorbers or as Miele calls them “Friction Dampers”. It is a relatively straight forward job for a Miele trained serviceman and will most likely carry the spare parts in his or her van stock. Here in and around Mackay call me Rod Swan on 0408776405