Annual Smeg DWF66 breakdown :)

[Davethebass]

Hi, back again with our yearly breakdown on ‘Sidney’ Smeg (DWF66), 4 faults in a row, one a year! The others have been simple for me to sort IE the circulation pump rotor shearing off which replaced, the diverter valve seizing and a few pipe blockages but this time I’m semi-stumped.

Anyone else had this fault? This time he won’t start up when the door is shut and the programme is selected. Just sits there, zilch else.

Now, this is deja-vu as he did this 25 months after we bought him and SMEG UK honoured the warranty after I sent a Mr Grumpy E-mail to them and offered to pay for parts and help meet them half-way. The first ‘approved’ Smeg engineer said it was a write-off but after a Mr Grumpy phone call to SMEG UK a ‘senior engineer’ came out and diagnosed a soap dispenser fault, the technician admitted it was a bugger of a fault to find ( he spent ages working on it). Apart from the aforementioned faults he’s been OK untill this morning.

I’m an Electronics tech (Scientific Research not white goods) so am going to open him up tonight and have a peek. I’m looking around the timer/pcb/pootar PCB and the Soap dispenser area. Whats is there to so wrong with a soap dispenser? Solenoid coil and a switch arangement is the only things I can think of.

Anything else? No fault codes are appearing.

Dave the bass.

[Martin]

Re: Annual Smeg DWF66 breakdown 🙂

Davethebass wrote: 4 faults in a row, one a year!

‘Sickly’ Sidney is trying his best to tell you something here Dave. 😉

Approved engineer fell over on it, senior SMEGGY hard a heart stopping time with it to suss the last fault and now “deja-vu” and over to you, but I know what I would do if I were you! 😈

Didn’t I read a post from you in the Cookworks Dishwasher thread? And you mentioned Miele there I think? Now the fact is that Cookworks are at the bottom of the pile in all this and Miele at the very top. Smeg struggle somewhere in the middle of that lot, tries hard to establish an up-market product status but overall is over engineered, overpriced and are sold over ‘ere. 😕

Just my opinion of course! 😉

[Davethebass]

Re: Annual Smeg DWF66 breakdown 🙂

Yep that was me in the Cookworks DW topic too Martin.

I’m beginining to think Sidney want’s to be sent to the knackers yard, he’s just scraping 4-5 years at the moment. Like I said over in the other thread he’s been a good washer but not particularly reliable.

I’ll have one last bash tonight but I think Mrs DTB is hoping for a Miele this time 😉

I wasn’t aware they’re not a favorite with the independant Service sector with inflated parts prices and seceretive info approach to customer service.

Julie has had a couple that have lasted REALLY well in the school she works in, 7 years of hard (ab)use day in day out and 1 breakdown she reckons.

Unless Smeg have upped the reliablility we’re probably taking the Miele route, spending an extra 150-200 over what we’d pay for a Smeg may pay divdends in the long run? I dunno.

Whats your take on it Martin?

DTB

[Davethebass]

Re: Annual Smeg DWF66 breakdown 🙂

😆 Sidney lives on!

I came home all prepared to do battle with him only to find a big smile on my partners face, she’d thumped him. He now works. Really. We suspect a stuck door switch or loose connection.

She’s available for hire if any of you pro’s need that kind of help 😆

DTB

[Davethebass]

Re: Annual Smeg DWF66 breakdown 🙂

Sidney Smeg continues to work well into the new year, we’re amazed.

Next time he plays up we’ll be looking at an ISE or Miele, any news on the ISE Dishwasher front Gent’s?

DTB

[kwatt]

Re: Annual Smeg DWF66 breakdown 🙂

Davethebass wrote:Next time he plays up we’ll be looking at an ISE or Miele, any news on the ISE Dishwasher front Gent’s?

Soon I hope Dave. Probably second quarter this year they should land and they are very nice, I’ve been testing. 😉

K.

[Davethebass]

Re: Annual Smeg DWF66 breakdown 🙂

kwatt wrote:

Davethebass wrote:
Next time he plays up we’ll be looking at an ISE or Miele, any news on the ISE Dishwasher front Gent’s?

Soon I hope Dave. Probably second quarter this year they should land and they are very nice, I’ve been testing. 😉

K.

Thanks Mr K,

DTB

[Davethebass]

Re: Annual Smeg DWF66 breakdown 🙂

OK, Sidney Smeg has bitten our bum again but this time its a new error code…Ooooo the excitement 🙂 ‘E8’ ? Only error codes E1-E6 are cunningly covered in the owners manual.

Any idea what E8 mean’s?

Mrs The Bass says she hopes it means buy a new ISE or Miele but the manual is doesn’t say so 😆

He fills OK, starts his circ pump and heats the water but after about 1 hour or so he just stops and says E8.

Anyone?

Dave the bass.

[Penguin45]

Re: Annual Smeg DWF66 breakdown 🙂

Welcome back, Dave…………

E8 is the alternator valve failure code – this diverts water alternately to the top and bottom baskets.

Haven’t you had enough yet?

Penguin45.

[Davethebass]

Re: Annual Smeg DWF66 breakdown 🙂

Penguin45 wrote:Welcome back, Dave…………

E8 is the alternator valve failure code – this diverts water alternately to the top and bottom baskets.

Haven’t you had enough yet?

Penguin45.

Thanks Mr Penguin,

Nah! I haven’t had enough of Sidney yet, we’ve formed an ‘unnatural bond’ over time 😯 🙂

Oh, I know of the valve in question. I had to rebuild it a few years ago after he’d developed a small leak from the valve itself also the little microswitch that feeds back to the PCB was intermittant too and he used to get upset when asked to do a half load (top or bottom basket setting). I replaced the micro switch too I seem to remember.

Bloody reliable these SMEGs aren’t they 😆

Anymore updates on when the ISE Dishwasher is coming out? Mrs Bass is chomping at the bit 😉

Thanks again for your help Sir, much appreciated *doffs cap*

DTB

[Penguin45]

Re: Annual Smeg DWF66 breakdown 🙂

ISE dishwasher – imminent……..

Reliability – this is unfortunate, really. Our own dishwasher is a slimline SMEG, and it must run 10 times a week – to date, it has been totally reliable for about 4 years now.

If you are familiar with the alternator valve, I would assume that the motor has failed as this is the only part that the computer will be able to check on.

Penguin45.

[kwatt]

Re: Annual Smeg DWF66 breakdown 🙂

Penguin45 wrote:ISE dishwasher – imminent……..

ISE5 dishwasher probably available May/June, we’re just awaiting production dates but we should have those in the next couple of weeks. Spec is finalised though and it’s none too shabby but I can’t say much more yet. 😉

ISE10 one, I’m working on it but no definitive date just yet.

HTH

K.

[Davethebass]

Re: Annual Smeg DWF66 breakdown 🙂

Penguin45 wrote:ISE dishwasher – imminent……..

Reliability – this is unfortunate, really. Our own dishwasher is a slimline SMEG, and it must run 10 times a week – to date, it has been totally reliable for about 4 years now.

If you are familiar with the alternator valve, I would assume that the motor has failed as this is the only part that the computer will be able to check on.

Penguin45.

Awww Mr Penguin, you’ve been much luckier than we have with your SMEG. Our’s gets run about the same number of times as yours does per week.

Re- motor-driven valve, yup, inside was a small cam that operated a micro switch I seem to remember that was the feedback to the pootar PCB. It managed a wash OK last night after we had a man-to-dishwasher chat. I’m an Electronics Technician by trade so I knew which words to use 😉

Thanks for the update K. I’ll try and keep Sidney going until the ISE is out on the streets.

Cheers again for all the help and advice Gentlemen.

All the best

DTB

[Lexxy_703]

Re: Annual Smeg DWF66 breakdown 🙂

i do love this thread, man & machine in complete harmony… 😆

i’ve given up on my bosch after 8 years & just 2 fails, so you have my complete admiration for keeping Sidney alive so long 😉

i’ve now got a Miele on order, if the ISE ones had been ready, i’d have gone for one of those without any hesitation, but i loathe washing by hand & i can’t wait that long, unfortunately.

good look with Sidney Dave, just tell Mrs Bass to keep smiling & hang on in there! 😀

[Davethebass]

Re: Annual Smeg DWF66 breakdown 🙂

Lexxy_703 wrote:i do love this thread, man & machine in complete harmony… 😆

i’ve given up on my bosch after 8 years & just 2 fails, so you have my complete admiration for keeping Sidney alive so long 😉

i’ve now got a Miele on order, if the ISE ones had been ready, i’d have gone for one of those without any hesitation, but i loathe washing by hand & i can’t wait that long, unfortunately.

good look with Sidney Dave, just tell Mrs Bass to keep smiling & hang on in there! 😀

Ooo, I dunno about telling Mrs Bass to keep smiling…I was more thinking along the lines of telling her to do the washing up if Sidney crashes out again 😆

8 years isn’t bad is it, well done keeping the Bodge (sorry Bosch) going. I build Valve HiFi equipment as a hobby that uses Valves from the 1940’s-1970’s, they’re still going strong… so I expect my Dom App’s to do the same 😯 😀

Glad you enjoy the thread, I mean…. laffing at someone elses miss fortunes with a SMEG 😀

All the best

DTB (and Sidney still chugging along after a stern talking and poking).

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