Siemens aventgard washer - not taking in water, won't spin

[castafiore]

Hi guys,

We have a couple of problems with our 4 year old Siemens washing machine.

Firstly, the intermitant fault has been that it won't always spin at the end of the cycle - sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. If you turn it off and just do a spin, it usually works ok. This has been a nusiance but bearable.

This week it has developed a second fault. It will not take in water, hot or cold. It goes through the cycle, but with no water.

A local washer repair man checked it out. He could find no mechanical fault, but suggested that the fault may lay in the electronic control panel. He does not have the diagnostic equipment to check this, but estimated that a replacement would be around £150.

Anyone have any ideas? We have considered getting the Siemens people out but I am pretty miffed with them as we sent off the registration card for the extended warranty but when I rang up about the intermitant fault they said we were not on the register so had no warranty. I should have used recorded delivery, I know.

We bought Siemens because of their reputation, but won't be buying another.

Any comments welcome. Thanks in advance.

 

[STUEY76]

It sounds like the pressure chamber may be blocked which could explain both faults. Are you getting any fault codes ie. lights flashing? and do you have the ENR No? Very much doubt it's a control board fault! When you say it goes into the cycle with no water does the drum turn when empty? Also bear in mind water levels on these appliances are very low. Let me know.

 

[castafiore]

Thanks for the reply, Stuey. With the intermittant 'won't spin'fault, the 'end' light flashes at the end of the cycle. the manual says this means the waste mechanasm is blocked. We have checked this (repair guy checked it too), it isn't blocked.

With the other fault, the machine starts the cycle but no water is used. I got these from the instruction manual:

E-Nr, - WM5487AGB/04

FD 8208

I am now going to try the washer again (husband has been dealing with it up to now). I know the water lies below the level of the drum, but you can usually see it swishing about a bit. I'll let you know what I observe. Thanks again.

 

[castafiore]

Right. Here goes:

I've just put it on 30 degree, short wash.
Active 'light' comes on - drum turns.
No water going into machine - none going through the detergent dispenser, none to be seen in drum.

The washer is still going - I'll let it complete the cycle and see if anything is flashing at the end. But basically, it seems to be going through a normal wash cycle, but without any water

Where is the pressure chamber? Is this somethimg we could unblock purselves? Thanks.

 

[castafiore]

Just checked - the washer has ended it's cycle. The 'end' light is flashing. No water to be seen anywhere. Any ideas?

 

[castafiore]

I did a bit of googling and saw the advice about blowing down the tube of the pressure chamber. Tried this, but no progress. The other bit 'clicks' when you stop blowing. When you blow down the black tube there doesn't seem to be resistance.

 

[castafiore]

I thought I'd update you on what's happened.

We bought the washer 4 years ago with a 2 year warrenty and sent off the docs to extend it to 5 years. After about 3 years it developed the intermitant fault - not spinning. Rang Siemens and spoke to an unpleasant jobsworth who said they had never received our documents, we weren't on the list and he could not help us further. Didn't make a fuss at the time as the fault was just a nuisance really.

Now that it seems to be completely knackered, I phoned Siemens to see how much it would be to get a guy out to repair it - £59 call-out, which includes the first 30 mins and VAT but not parts. Thereafter, £4.50 per 6 minutes (ie £45 per hour). No point, I decided - any repair is likely to cost £200 by the time he's done.

I got to thinking about the 5 year warranty. I started feeling pretty short-changed. Rang Siemens and spoke to a very helpful guy, Sam, who immediately found our details - turns out they had received the docs, but no warranty scheme had been set up.

Result - warranty set up, one year left to run, Siemens engineer coming out tomorrow. My faith in Siemens has been restored to some extent, I just wish I had pushed to speak to someone higher first time around.