Porcelain, glass, metal, plastic ““ items made of the most varied materials are washed in a dishwasher. While some items are robust, others are more sensitive and require particularly gentle treatment. An optimal programme must therefore be flexible and adjust to differing requirements. The programmes and intelligent electronic controls on the new G 1000 / G 2000 Miele dishwasher generation offer solutions to meet all needs.
Sensors control water consumption. The Eco Sensor III is a standard feature on all new dishwashers. Using a beam of light, it measures the turbidity, or murkiness, of the water and adjusts water intake in accordance with the actual level of soiling. Some models feature an AutoSensor to measure the particulate contamination of the water which is also able to differentiate between particles and bubbles. Miele is the only manufacturer to separate out bubbles, which would otherwise falsify readings, in order to precisely control water intake, temperatures and programme duration, and hence also electricity consumption. The Sensor wash programme ““ Miele has offered this option on some models for almost two years ““ and the Sensor wash gentle programme operate with parameters based on readings taken by the AutoSensor.
Dishwasher are not always loaded identically. Sometimes they are filled with only plates and sometimes with only cups, glassware, pots or cutlery. However, usually the task for a dishwasher will involve a mixture of different items and materials. And, of course, the quantity of crockery will also vary. To ensure that water consumption can be matched to the actual load, the new Miele dishwashers have a load-sensor function. This is used to calculate how much water is required to thoroughly wet the load and fill hollow areas such as the concave bottoms of cups or bowl rims.
Users expect optimal cleaning results from their dishwashers. It is important that as far as possible water reaches every part of the cabinet. To achieve this, the design of the spray arms is particularly important. Nevertheless, if items are placed in the basket such that they protrude or if plates are too large, the spray arm may be blocked so that it cannot rotate properly. This results in poor cleaning performance. Miele made the first step to provide a solution for this problem many years ago with a middle spray arm sensor. This approach has now also been applied to the bottom spray arm. Now, if items in the load block one or both spray arms, this fault is indicated optically and in some cases audibly. On fully integrated appliances, for example, the audible alarm is included as standard. To make the cleaning of large items possible, some models from the new generation have the additional programmes Without upper basket 45°C and Without upper basket 65°C. Then the upper basket can be removed so that particularly large pieces can be placed in the bottom basket and be economically cleaned.
Hygiene programme and much more
Nowadays almost all crockery is dishwasher-proof. However, items still vary considerably in composition, materials and surface finish. So simply washing everything together in one load is not doing anyone any favours as this can lead to unsatisfactory cleaning results. The variety of programmes offered by dishwashers up until now were mostly based upon different temperatures and running times. This led to important developments such as the GlassCare system for which running times, water temperature and water hardness are adjusted to match the specific requirements of this sensitive material. However, other items which have a similar need for special treatment are also cleaned in dishwashers. And now a solution for cleaning these is provided by the numerous special programmes offered by Miele’s new generation of dishwashers.
Many items used in the kitchen for example require particularly hygienic cleaning. Crockery used for food preparation, chopping boards and similar items, especially after being used to prepare food such as poultry, need to be thoroughly cleaned to prevent the spread of bacteria. The same applies to baby bottles – parents want to be absolutely certain that these are really thoroughly cleaned. A solution for these special applications is provided by the new Hygiene programme. This is a specially structured programme with a high temperature (70°C) and a long temperature-holding time, and ensures hygienic cleaning for normal domestic applications. A hygiene report about this programme published by the independent German research institute WfK has confirmed this. According to this report: “The use of the ‘Hygiene’ programme on the Miele G 1530 SCi test machine can be recommended to hygienically clean and remove bacteria from, for example, baby bottles, chopping boards or other crockery which requires high hygiene standards”.
A good beer needs a perfect head. Beer drinkers delight in the sight of a frothy, creamy cap on their glass. Unfortunately though, rinse aid additives act to reduce the development of this crowning glory. Now Miele offers fans of the amber nectar special glass-cleaning programmes. Glasses quick and Specialist glasses allow the cleaning of glasses without rinse aid. By dispensing rinse aid in pulses it has been possible for Miele to match the quantity of rinse aid to the load. If the Glasses quick programme is used, the glasses are washed in cold water and can be re-used immediately. This can be particularly useful during a party.
Until now washing plastic items in the dishwasher was sometimes a problem. As ths material does not retain heat well, plastics do not generally dry as easily as other items.However, using the Plastics programme items made of this material will be dried properly. Incidentally, the Plastics programme is also suitable for cleaning plastic toys.
Other special programmes in this new range of machines are suitable for removing particularly stubborn soiling from crockery. These include the Fondue and Pasta programmes. Special programmes, with running times and temperatures carefully set to deal with stubborn soiling, which are now available for the first time with the new dishwashers from Miele, ensure practical, effective solutions to cleaning problems.
Only 10 litres of water
In recent years the energy and water consumption of dishwashers has been reduced enormously. 13 litres of water was the accepted norm until recently and a further reduction while maintaining equally good cleaning results appeared unthinkable. However, Miele has again achieved the impossible and managed to reduce consumption to just ten litres. This has been made possible by using spray arm alternation which Miele has introduced for the very first time. With spray arm alternation technology, wash water is directed alternately through either the middle, or the top and bottom spray arms. This allows residues on the dishwasher load to be removed more effectively so that water consumption is reduced while maintaining optimal cleaning results.
Good washing results require good drying. The active drying method used on previous freestanding and integrated Miele dishwasher was Turbothermic drying. This system extracts warm, moisture-laden air from the inner cabinet and expels it through a grille on the fascia panel into the kitchen. This new generation of products introduces internal, fan-assisted Turbothermic drying. This involves drawing air out of the cabinet and passing it over a cold surface in a separate compartment inside the machine. The opposite side of this surface is cooled by a stream of colder, room air ““ and not, as on some dishwasher models, by cold water. This makes this technology the method of choice even on dishwashers connected to a hot water supply, an option available to owners of Miele dishwashers without conversion. Drying performance, as before, is A-rated on the energy label, ensuring that Miele dishwashers retain their Triple A title (for cleaning, energy efficiency and drying).
Equipped for the future
There are four elements at play in the washing process: Water, temperature, mechanical action and chemistry. Chemistry ““ or detergents to be more precise ““ plays a central role. Over recent years, detergents in tablet form have usurped traditional powder and liquid detergent. Advances in detergent technology have resulted in the widespread availability of ‘2-in-1’ and ‘3-in-1’ tablets. Both contain detergent and rinse aid, and the latter also contains a substitute for salt. Since last year, Miele dishwashers now offer greater convenience to users of ‘3-in-1’ tablets: By pressing this button, dispensing of rinse aid is entirely suppressed and salt consumption reduced by up to 75% as required to attain optimum results. Thanks to the sophisticated electronic controls on these new machines, consumers can now select between ‘2-in-1’, ‘3-in-1’ and conventional detergents as and when they choose. Dispensing salt in the ‘3-in-1’ function in small quantities means that the water softener is always on standby. As a result, customers can switch at their leisure between dispensing options ““ and leave the rest to the machine.
Still only a conversation piece, but gradually becoming reality: Networked domestic appliances in smart homes. In view of the speed of developments, making appliances future-proof is all the more important. Miele dishwashers are well-equipped to cope with future advances in technology and are already communication-enabled as part of Miele’s Miele@home system. Communication-enabled units can be connected to the Miele smart-house system at any time in the future by simply inserting a communication module at the rear of the appliance.