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*** This was typed by me, Carl’s Mum, with Carl’s permission and supervision. ***
Hi!
I think we seem to be having some bad luck at the moment, what with our Miele Premier 520 having some problems! Now our Hotpoint SDW80 dishwasher has just started running the wash cycle again after just finishing it!
No-one leaned on the machine accidentally, thus starting it up again. Also, there was no power cut, and the machine did not beep to indicate it had finished the cycle the first time around; nor did it beep to indicate it had started up again. The programme took a very long time to finish anyway, and it did not finish the first time – it started up again from the wash part of the cycle again not long after the rinses had finished from the previous run.
Also, Carl said he noticed a strange smell from the machine during the wash part of the cycle. We use good quality detergent – Fairy or Finish – and never have any problems with detergent not dissolving. We also use separate rinse aid and salt every time – that is, before the indicators appear. Everything is set up properly, and it has worked well since March last year. Also, at times, almost since new, the salt and rinse aid indicators appear at strange times, saying the salt and/or rinse aid are empty, despite us only topping them up fully the day before! A visiting Hotpoint engineer told us this was normal for these machines, but could it be indicative of these machines’ poor reputation?
However, this machine was an insurance replacement for a Hotpoint (Bosch-made) DC26 dishwasher. We were not particularly happy with this inferior Indesit-made machine being given as a replacement because it is not of the same quality of course. We have the five-year parts warranty, but we are reluctant to have it looked at because of the £90 cost and so feel we may be better off buying a better quality machine.
This machine operates in a standby mode, so even when it’s apparently turned off, this is only a ‘soft’ on/off switch – like on a TV – so we are worried this machine could turn itself on again and start washing without warning.
The buttons do not get stuck, so we do not think it is that. We are not sure if we can replicate this fault, and I take it we should really power this machine off at the mains and leave it so for safety reasons? We know it may work fine again, but we do not wish to risk it. Also, we are quite happy to buy a new machine. What should we do?
Finally, we did have problems recently with rinsing, even though we look after the machine (all filters cleaned before each wash, cleaning it with cleaner regularly, checking spray arms, etc.). It was not obvious from the naked eye, but we think our dogs may have been poisoned by the dishwasher at one stage through poor rinsing recently. We were using longer cycles, like the Normal and Intensive ones, which wash at 60 degrees and 65 degrees respectively and with two rinses (Normal) or three rinses (Intensive).
Basically, could this machine be playing up and close to failure? I understand some machines like this are prone to misbehaving, as it were. Carl has also noticed the machine sounding different lately, although dishwasher and other appliances can sound different at times anyway, and we also noticed a very nasty acidic smell a few weeks ago that we thought was due to the Finish powder.
Could you suggest what to do, please? We do not really want to have this looked at by Indesit Company because we do not wish to pay £90 (free parts) that could otherwise go towards a new and better machine. This machine was, after all, not something we asked for exactly and was/is not up to the specification of our Bosch-made Hotpoint.
Many thanks.
Regards
Jackie
Re: Hotpoint SDW80 Dishwasher: Machine Started Up Again!
“Dogs poisoned”….”Buttons playing up”…..?? All very confusing stuff you tell us here?….I really would suggest someone check it out…Sadly it is a poor build Indesit unlike your earlier Bosch made slimline machine, but can’t cry over spilt milk after all 😉
Specific faults can easily lead to specific action, but in this case there’s so much info it’s hard to put a finger on anything to be honest! 😕
Re: Hotpoint SDW80 Dishwasher: Machine Started Up Again!
Thank you very much, Martin. 🙂
I can certainly agree with you – there have been so many strange incidents with this machine, although it took until today for anything more ‘dangerous’ or very worrying to occur.
Regarding our “poisoned dogs”, we can only assume it was the dishwasher because, after trying the Intensive programme (which performs two cold rinses and a third 65 degree rinse instead of the just two cold rinses on the Normal programme), things seemed to be better! 🙂 Intensive washes at 65 degrees, not 60 like on the Normal one.
However, dogs being dogs, they can get upset tummies at any time, but this problem did seem to go on for a few days or so until we noticed the dishwasher’s rinsing getting worse. Switching to the Intensive programme seemed to help.
I know we certainly provided rather a lot of information there, but that’s Carl for you! 🙂 We just thought it best to give a history of this machine, which does tend to throw up some strange ‘episodes’ sometimes. I know when it arrived, my husband’s words were along the lines of, “What is this?! It’s nowhere near as good as the Bosch-made one!” We had also bought a Bosch-made Hotpoint before that lasted from 1992 to 2001, which was very good! 🙂 We knew they were actually Bosch-made but that it changed a few years ago, hence our reluctance at being given an Indesit-made Hotpoint.
Thank you very much for your help. 🙂 We shall decide what to do with it very soon, but I am certainly minded to replace it very quickly for safety reasons and not repair it given their poor reputation. Also, if Indesit come to look at it and cannot find anything wrong during the visit, they may charge us, which is money that could go towards a far better machine.
Regards
Jackie
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