German appliances - Miele

[boonies]

So we have had a spate of appliance issues. This week we replaced the Miele dishwasher and Miele service was out to look at our induction cook-top and coffee maker. The cook-top is interesting as we had it completely apart to look for damage (none). It turned out there was no power at cooktop despite there being power at the breaker for that dedicated circuit.

Miele service put everything back together and I spent yesterday chasing the wiring issue. It turns out the whole house gerator installer put a motor control switch in that circuit (maybe they thought it was the HVAC circuit?) and that $1,500 switch failed. I bypassed the switch and the cooktop would still not work. I decided to take it apart again and check the three fuses inside the unit as that was a low-cost option. The alternative is that Miele service would fire the parts cannon at the device, replacing each of the $1,000 + electronic components until the unit worked again.

I dis-assembled the unit, checked the fuses (all good) and the re-assembled the unit again and knowing that it was not going to work ordered a new one for over $3k. On a lark I turned on the circuit one last time...the damn thing worked! I cancelled my order (for now) and am happy about dodging the expensive parts-cannon blast.

Well, break's over, time to go back to work in the garage now, and blast the parts cannon at the coupe.

 

[lip277]

Reminds me of a time (back in the late 1980's) when I was chasing why one of my brake lights in the 2002 was out. I had voltage to the bulb housing, but when I put a bulb in the housing - nothing. I put the bulb in the other side, OK. I swap out light housings - still a problem on the original side. It was as if I could get voltage there but as soon as I put a load (current) - then nothing. I finally ran a new wire parallel to the original one from the brake switch under the dash to the light housing and it worked. Ran that way till I sold the car ~30 years later. I never did really figure out what it was.

 

[Stan]

Rob Seigel once said "it's not organic, it won't heal" but strange things happen.
The blower for theHVAC in my E30 suddenly would only work on the low setting.
I made an appointment and ordered the replacement part, then just as suddenly, it started working normally again and has kept working for over a year.

 

[mulberryworks]

Reminds me of a time (back in the late 1980's) when I was chasing why one of my brake lights in the 2002 was out. I had voltage to the bulb housing, but when I put a bulb in the housing - nothing. I put the bulb in the other side, OK. I swap out light housings - still a problem on the original side. It was as if I could get voltage there but as soon as I put a load (current) - then nothing. I finally ran a new wire parallel to the original one from the brake switch under the dash to the light housing and it worked. Ran that way till I sold the car ~30 years later. I never did really figure out what it was.

I had that issue with the taillight on my 67 beetle. Turned out to be a corroded fuse strip on the torpedo fuse that would allow voltage to the bulb, but wouldn't allow enough current to flow to light the filament up. Easy fix once I figured that out.

 

[CSteve]

My Bosch story. We built our house 47 years ago. It is small, 1,625 sq ft, passive solar, south facing walls of glass, double of course, open from the first level to the roof/ceiling. Slab on grade, no attic. And a Morso wood stove that heated the whole house. So a heat pump in 1978 worked as backup and ac for the humid summers. Ten years ago with our second much imporved heat pump we eliminated the wood stove and went All Electric.

We are now on our third heat pump, a super efficient Bosch model. Tracking the electric bill over the last five years our average monthly bill has been $157.00. I have saved all the monthly bills for years to prove it. PECO, our electric company, tell us each month that we are one of the most efficient houses in their territory.

Thank you, Robert Bosch.