Miele W5872 pressure switch trap removal

[AllanGreen]

Hi, I’m attempting to trace the cause of an “inlet fault” error. I’ve checked the supply pressure, I’ve cleaned the filters, and (largely because it is an easy thing to do!) replaced the inlet valve. My next try is to make sure that there is no blockage between the drum and the pressure sensor (which on this machine is integrated component on the “motherboard”.) I’ve identified the air trap, (which ukwhitegoods actually stock should i need one 🙂 if it helps you can look at https://shop.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/3169893-pressure-switch-trap) but I cannot see an obvious way to to remove it. I’ve (obviously!) removed the front of the machine, but the trap is behind one of the cast drum support arms so access is not great. I don’t think this itself is a disaster, but the trap is secured in place by what looks like a white plastic pin with a spherical head. (This goes through a slot in the trap housing, adjacent to the pipe connection.) I haven’t yet tried just pulling at the pin in case it breaks! (I’ve considered attempting to clean out the trap – if it needs it – by dropping off the monster rubber drain hose underneath the drum and trying to reach it from the inside but that is very speculative so far!) (I confess to very limited experience in the world of washing machine repair but spent 20 years of my life repairing medical electronic equipment so consider myself reasonably competent. And I’ve a pretty comprehensive selection of tools…) Any hints would be be greatly welcomed…

[electrofix]

try
disconnect hose from the pressure sw on the board and release enough pipe to be able to blow down it

open the door and pour a couple of small pans of water in the machine

then blow down the tube and suck a bit, then blow and suck

what you trying to do is push the water in and out of the bell to wash out the gunk. the trick is to push the water in and out without getting a mouth full

after you think its clear, drain the water from the filter ( its best not to use the pump). Then replace the tube on the pressure sw and put everything back and try it

Dave

[AllanGreen]

Admirably described, thanks Dave! Will give it a try tonight! (And if I do swallow some gunk I’ll tell you all what it tasted like 🙂

[AllanGreen]

Hi, just to update any followers of this thread… we’ve used the washing machine for a couple of weeks now and it is running perfectly! (Though I’ll probably be crossing my fingers throughout every fill cycle for a while yet…) Anyway, thanks Dave, your advice was excellent. (Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, I never did get to taste the gunk from the air trap. My gf wanted to do the sucking/blowing thing instead of me…)

[electrofix]

AllanGreen wrote:
My gf wanted to do the sucking/blowing thing instead of me…)

well that opens the way for all sorts of inuendo’s

Dave

[AllanGreen]

To the pure in heart all things are pure…

[AllanGreen]

This is an old thread but almost exactly a year after the last time we had the “inlet fault” described above, the fault has recurred.

First, I can confirm that enough water gets into the machine before the error when I attempt to run a wash cycle for me to see that there was a bit of gunk suspended in the water I drained. However, I don’t think that it was excessive.

I’ve repeated the fix described above (actually much better prepared than last time; I’d got myself some long pipecleaners, a 200ml syringe from Amazon, and a gadget (an “NSDD Long Flexible Refrigerator Scrub Brush”) that I can only describe as like a very fine drain unblocker with a pipe cleaner instead of the spiral bit. With these I can guarantee that the two sections of rubber tube are completely clear, and I pushed and pulled the syringe enough times to flush the trap out (I would hope! – I probably spent about 10 minutes on this!) There were initially a few dark coloured specks in the water I pulled into the syringe but it very soon went clear.

In case it is relevant, the last wash before the failure ended up with the drum apparently completely full of bubbles…. small amount of washing with normal amount of detergent seems to trigger this 🙂

Any guesses or hints would be very welcome. Am I back to replacing the trap itself? (It seems that they are still available…) If so, any advice on how to do so would be very welcome.

Bordering on despair,

Best wishes and thank you for reading,

Allan.

[electrofix]

you wont have to replace the trap. its clipped into the seal so can be removed with care

yes trap is available but its almost £40 from miele but the seal is only £8.16 if you damage it

Dave

[AllanGreen]

Wow, 10.25pm. That is so impressive…

Thanks again Dave, are you suggesting that the trap is just pushed into the outer drum and held in place only by the seal? Will i be able to get it past the strut which inconveniently sits right in front of it? (I imagined I might have to do some Very Serious Dismantling to get at it…) I’m very willing to learn, but as I said before this is all new to me!

Presumably if I can get the trap out I can clean it more thoroughly, but given that I can flush water through it via the pressure sensor hoses without any apparent problems I can’t help wondering if I am barking up the wrong tree… Be interesting to see how it works though!

Very best wishes,

Allan.

[electrofix]

yes as far as i can see the bottom of the trap is help by a lip on the seal but there may be a bolt to secure it higher up

nothing to how it works its like an upturned mug in water, it traps air and the air pressure is equal to depth

Dave

[AllanGreen]

Hi Dave, thanks for the information.

(The following details will hopefully assist anyone who comes to this thread in future 🙂 )

The “bolt” is in fact the plastic pin with spherical head I mentioned in my very first post in this thread! To remove this I grabbed it in a pair of electrician’s pliers then gently pulled while rotating it 1/4 turn left/right/left/right… and eventually to my great relief it came free without snapping off. (What were Miele thinking? This should have been a stainless steel bolt with captive shakeproof washer. At the prices they charge this would not have hit the bottom line too hard 🙂 )

Anyway, with the pin removed it wasn’t too difficult to ease the trap from its rubber seal. The strut I mentioned before is not actually anything to do with supporting the drum as I’d previously suspected; it provides structural rigidity to the machine frame. It is welded in place, and is exactly where you would put it to stop someone getting the trap out. However, with patience there is just enough clearance to pull the trap out.

With decent access to the drum end of the trap, I was able to clear out some sludge with a pipe cleaner… In fact there must be some sort of maze within the trap because you cannot push a cleaner straight through! Using the syringe and one of the rubber hoses I’ve given it a very good flushing, and am now soaking it overnight in washing-up liquid solution. Tomorrow night I’ll clear the seal of Miele sealant gunge, reassemble. and let you know what happens!

Best wishes,

Allan

[AllanGreen]

Thank you Dave, if ever you are in Birmingham I’ll buy you a beer. Hell, all the beer you can drink!

After refitting the trap, and reassembling the machine, everything is working again … for now anyway!

I’m still not quite clear what it was i did that made such a difference but i’m not complaining. And i’d never have worked out what to do without Dave’s help. We are going to introduce a regular washing machine cleaning routine, hoping that this will avoid the gunk buildup and preempt a recurrence… but I wont be too surprised if I’m back here again in a year’s time!

Thanks again,

Allan.

[electrofix]

no problem glad you sorted it

Dave

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