Washing Machine Help Forum

Hello,
I've been unlucky enough to have had two AEG L14850 washer dryers that have failed. The first one lasted 14 days, and the second one lasted 10 days! Both have failed with error codes E20. The pump is not blocked. The engineer said that the first one needed both PCBs replacing. The second one has not been checked yet.
I plan on exchanging for another machine from the same supplier. Please could I get your advice on which you would recommend from the following?
BOSCH WVD24520GB £412.99
SIEMENS WD12D520GB £474.99
Or is it worth paying the extra for the following?
MIELE WT2670 £844.99
Your advice would be much appreciated.

Many thanks,

Ben

The best advice anyone in the trade will give you is "don't buy one in the first place"

Apart from that, Washer Dryers

Jim.

TBH i would be looking at your plumbing 1st if its not taking the water away, or it could be that the machine is siphoning by pushing outlet hose too far down stand pipe. is extremely rare to have 2 machines with same fault after similar amount of time, did you install it yourself by any chance ?.

Hello,
Thanks for your replies. I would prefer to have a separate washer and dryer but dont have the space, even for a compact dryer.
I've checked the plumbing and all seems fine - the outlet hose has a tapered section so that you can only put it in the waste pipe about 6 inches or so. Both have failed on the drying cycle.
We went for the AEG as we wanted a reliable make, and the AEG has a 7kg load. Unfortunatly the others all seem to have a 5kg load.
Is there much difference between the Siemens and the Bosch machines? Are Siemens made in Germany?
Thanks,
Ben

The AEG is basically a Zanussi, the last I heard all or most of the BSH group washer/dryers are Italian made Smeg machines.

As for load size, have a read of THIS

If you can afford the Miele then it by far the best option.

Jim.

Hi Ben,

There's two basic problems with a washer dryer idea...

1. There's not enough space in the drum to tumble dry clothing effectively as well as there not being enough ventilation (so the water stays in on wash) to allow good airflow. And this does apply to so called large capacity ones as well.

2. There's a LOT more packed into the same space and, as you up the load size, you decrease the available space.

Number one means that the dryer is woefully inefficient and, I do mean woefully!

Think on the electricity used in a normal dryer then double or treble it and you're close to the mark. Then, as it has less airflow, the dryer takes ages so to hours or more to dry a pair of jeans (if it doesn't burn them) is not unusual at all. You'd almost be as quick hanging them over a radiator.

Meanwhile number two means, loads more to go wrong, clog up and break in general.

Now, washer dryers for we repairers are a mixed blessing. On the one hand they break more so, it's good for business and as they are more expensive people pay to get them repaired even if they are a heap of, errr, "rubbish".

On the other hand we tend to be an honest bunch in the main so we're telling you before you buy one, they're rubbish and they don't work well and they cost more and they need fixed more.

Now you have more info if you really, really still have to buy one although I'd rather buy a clothes horse as that won't break...

Miele is the best machine but you'll need a mortgage to fix it when it breaks and, while it's better than the rest, it'll still break.

Bosch, best balance probably.

Siemens, Bosch with a different badge on the front.

No washer dryer, best buy.

HTH

K.

Thanks very much for the advice so far. I think that I could fit in a slimline dryer above the washing machine (only a shallow dryer will fit due to a sloping ceiling). Due to location it would have to be a condenser dryer, so the only product I can find to fit the bill is the Zanussi TC180W.
Does anyone know if this dryer is any good? Do you think that a separate washing machine and this compromise (only 3.5kg) dryer is the safer bet?

Thanks for your advice,

Ben

A separate washer & dryer is the best option every time. The Zanussi dryers are quite decent.

Its worth remembering that the weight of the average wash load throughout the Uk is around 3.5k or less. Ken will know the exact figures.

Jim.

landroverben wrote:Thanks very much for the advice so far. I think that I could fit in a slimline dryer above the washing machine (only a shallow dryer will fit due to a sloping ceiling). Due to location it would have to be a condenser dryer, so the only product I can find to fit the bill is the Zanussi TC180W.
Does anyone know if this dryer is any good? Do you think that a separate washing machine and this compromise (only 3.5kg) dryer is the safer bet?

Thanks for your advice,

Ben

Hi Ben,
I have had one of those Zanussi Studio Machines along with the matching dishwasher & to be honest, I had nothing but bother with both appliances. It cost me £319 (dryer) from Currys in 2004. Net result ended up being scrapped after 2.5yrs. Yes the dryer is a good dryer especially when space is tight, I can't argue with that, but the drum is rather small & if you do a lot of laundry like I do, you will be on for hours drying them. I had problems with the Condenser Grid in the door frequently blocking up with fluff (despite it having regular hot showers to clean it) which caused water to go every where. Even the Engineer from Service Force admitted it was a bad design & had to use a Screw driver to clean the thing, where it had blocked at the bottom, & don't get me started on the issue of the red plastic plug which more often than not fell out. The grid is also a pain to get out of the door especially if you have Arthritis in the Joints like me. Kept catching the side of my thumbs. Also problems with heating elements blowing on a regular basis & having to be replaced. - If memory serves me correctly they were both made in Sweden?

IMO, I was very dissapointed & it rather put me off the Zannussi Brand for life. - But I could have been unlucky, you may have better luck than I.

WQ

Thanks for the advice.
The company who supplied our washer dryer have allowed me to choose an alternative replacement, so I've gone for a Bosch Logixx WAS28466GB washing machine. Hopefully this will be more reliable than the washer dryer. This just leaves me to decide on a compact washer dryer - thanks for you advice on the condenser one WQ.
I only need a compact dryer for about a year as we plan on moving, hopefully to a house with space for a full dryer.
Does anyone know roughly how much it costs to get a through-wall vent put in for a dryer? I guess this might be outside the scope of this forum. The house is late 1980s with brick outer wall, cavity and breeze block inner walls.
Any reccomendations for a compact dryer? Bearing in mind that I am used to the performance of a washer-dryer I guess anything should be an improvement!
Thanks,
Ben

iadom wrote:Its worth remembering that the weight of the average wash load throughout the Uk is around 3.5k or less. Ken will know the exact figures.

2.5 or 2.7kg from memory, even allowing for the invasion of large capacity machines as, the point of the survey, was to prove that even if people buy a large capacity machine, most of the time, it goes to waste.

K.

Best ones IMO are the White Knight machines by Crosslee, either the WK37AW or the WK38AW. Only difference is, the latter has reverse action.

Don


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