Water+ can easily be set yourself, just by entering the Programming menu. Search this forum, there are very detailed directions, on how to do it. Make sure you set it to Water+ / Extra Rinse.

I do not think the W4840 can be set to Clean Machine. I think that is a new feature, available to the W4842

I don't think I've ever heard of Miele offering firmware from a later model revision to owners of a previous model. Call Miele to see if an update of your W4840 firmware is available. You could also see if a local Miele tech would be willing to try to force W4842 firmware onto your W4840, but beware that you run the risk of bricking your washer's computer if something goes wrong.

Perhaps a better solution would be to examine whether the circuit boards of the W4842 and W4840 are physically the same. If so, find a service shop that would be willing to order you a W4842 circuit board to toss into your machine. A brain transplant of sorts. You would then be the lucky owner of the first Frankenmiele!

"...Frankenmiele...."

LOL....delightful....thanks!

Would be a kick if it worked!

@ chefwong

Did you ever get your mold situation under control?

Good Memory.

It got me thinking and I spent a rainy day dealing with it. I decided I was going to use heat to break up the buildup. Cranked up my boiler to the hottest setting.

Did 3-6 washes on sanitize back to back.
Watched as each *dump* of the water emptied out the mildew, built up soap scum, very fine *particulates*, and even blackish scum. Yuck.

Then I did 2 more sanitize cycles with dishwasher powder...

Followed by 4 more custom cycles on hot. On the custom cycles, I had the water on sanitize, let it prerinse, dump, and then after the 2nd wave of water, I hit cancel to dump out the water. After the 4th cycle of doing this,the water was fairly crystal clear...

At that point, after literally a whole day of extreme hot water cycles nonstop, with the boiler on *max setting* as well, I shut off the light to the laundry room, shone my flashlight and pulled the gasket back and nary-nil of any traces on the gasket or inner tub.

I used this methodology as I did not find a concrete answer on whether a chemical or cleaner existed that would do the trick, and heat does wonders. I have a high end commercial grade steamer. I thought I kept my wood floors fairly clean, but Boy, after 1 cleaning with the steamer, it took it to a whole nuther level...

Since then, monthly LCR to keep ontoop of post cleanup.

@ chefwong

I remember the photos you showed, the mold was pretty bad. I'm glad you got it all worked out. Are you doing anything differently? Was it due to too much or too little detergent?

Similar detergent - just not enough hot water cycles and or custom cycles with very warm/hot.

I'm not a laundry fanatic like some of ya'll.....and was just doing colds/woolite for drycleaning items and $$$ dress shirts. And almost always normal, with either warm or cold depending on color....

So now, I mix it up with whites, on very warm, custom setting, etc.

----

The scary part...is how many people out there may have this problem as well (not isolated to the model itself but FL as a whole). The only way I picked up on it was taking a very bright flashlight and pulling the gasket to peer in.

Everything on the surface looked clean.

Temps do play a role and now I know...

As a matter of fact, when I do the monthly LCR cleaning, I go to hot water boiler, crank the setting to the max (which is probably at skin scalding hotness) and let the water heatup before doing a sanitize cycle.

Just some food for thought.....

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/37933/title/Science_%2B_the_Public__The_Case_for_Very_Hot_Water

I don't know why Miele touts their PC update feature when there hasn't ever been a firmware update (at least to the best of my knowledge). The Clean Machine cycle is a perfect example of how they could have updated the 1st generation machines with a firmware update.

"I go to hot water boiler, crank the setting to the max (which is probably at skin scalding hotness) and let the water heatup before doing a sanitize cycle."

@chefwong - The Miele has an internal heater that will heat the water to the correct temp. That might save energy over heating an entire hot water tank, I think.

I'm aware of the internal heater.

I wanted my water to be hotter than the internal boiler.....when I was cleaning out my inner tub. It was pretty brutal on the buildup.

Another way to quickly flush and/or refresh the outer tub is to simply pour hot water down the dispenser as the washer spins. The spinning drum violently throws the water around and srubs everything clean. I do this on my grandma's Miele whenever I visit her. I did make a video of this but haven't yet edited it for uploading to YouTube - will post it here once I'm done.

Alex

A quick call to Miele and no firmware update has ever been released for the 4840...

Whirlpool Trainee. I actually did that as well - ran a hose off the faucet and just put more water (removed dispenser) + added more water manually.

Oh well. Me wonders who actually has had a PC update on their dishwasher...

For as much as I like Miele, their executive management is dysfunctional. All countries except the USA have good web sites that actually work. Not here. Miele is basically screwing up the marketing in North America. They don't properly promote the advantages of their machines while underutilizing some revolutionary features (PC Update, RemoteVision, etc.).

The RemoteVision thing is what I really can't understand. Miele can enable wi-fi connectivity on their machines, so why not make the machines programmable remotely and charge customers for special cycle "packages" like they do with their commercial machines? For instance, if you live on the coast you might want a slight variation to all of your programs to ensure sand is properly rinsed out... or I might want to buy the "Southwest" cycle package that would be better suited to wash out iron-rich clay soil. The possibilities are endless and something like this would add to Miele's revenue stream. No other manufacturer is positioned to do what Miele can do here, the only problem is that Miele is not doing anything much with the great technology they've developed.

I should be CEO of Miele USA.

@sshrivastava, I will agree that the Miele websites suck.

Sites like LG allow you to select several models and do an on screen comparison.

It would have been nice to have that for the Miele dishwashers I was trying to compare.

Makes you wonder who's in charge of marketing over there. Do they not look at other manufacturers sites and want to do/be better??

For the premium brand - they should be doing way better.

But alas ... I'm still giving them business :)

The sales guy at the appliance store told me that the Remote Vision was really only useful, in his opinion, in households that had hired help (housekeepers, nannies, etc.) doing their laundry, who might run into a problem with the machines malfunctioning, and whose English speaking skills were not at a level that they could adequately describe any problem the machine(s) might be having.

@ Cavimum

That is definitely what I'd call a "niche" market LOL

The sales guy at the appliance store told me that the Remote Vision was really only useful, in his opinion, in households that had hired help (housekeepers, nannies, etc.) doing their laundry, who might run into a problem with the machines malfunctioning, and whose English speaking skills were not at a level that they could adequately describe any problem the machine(s) might be having.

I'd venture to say that your salesperson is a wee bit ignorant, if not a tad racist. From my encounters with the Miele Techs, Remote Vision supposedly has more to come, and a more possibilities to unlock. Its genesis is from the commercial side of Miele where they using remote information for other capabilities as they are in Europe.

@fahrenheit451 - I won't defend his level of knowledge (I have a few doubts myself), but I do not consider him a tad bit racist. Facts are facts, and this is a reality in today's world, especially in a large city. There are thousands of homes in our area that have household employees in the home doing the laundry, whose vocabulary would lack adjectives such as "making a clunking sound." If you've studied a foreign language and had to hold your own in conversation, you know how that is; we're limited by our vocabulary. It could really be an issue if the owner is out of town and not there to assess the machine. For all he knew, I might be one of those people with help that does my laundry. Salesguy did say there were some other benefits, but for the cost of the program, this was the salient point at this time.

Funny, how this Remote Vision concept is interpreted so differently by Miele US versus Miele Europe. Over here, WiFi units can be added to several of their appliances - even range hoods. They allow the user to remote control and monitor everything. Like: set you freezer to max. cooling while shopping so fresh food freezes faster, monitor the progress of wash and dry cycles without having to go to the laundry room (over here, it's often the basement) etc. All this can conveniently be done via ones smart phone. I think there's even a Miele iPhone app.

FWIW, Miele EU also stresses the possibilities of the update functionality. Yet, I have not heard of any major updates for their appliances; except for cycle packages for some washers and dryers, which include cycles for bath robes, shoes etc.

Alex

"They allow the user to remote control and monitor everything. ..... monitor the progress of wash and dry cycles without having to go to the laundry room (over here, it's often the basement) etc. All this can conveniently be done via ones smart phone. I think there's even a Miele iPhone app"

That is really cool!

The app is called "Miele at home". Wish we had it here. I purchased the extend warranty deal that included the remote vision modules for both my washer and dryer. It was a great deal, couldn't pass it up. The most you can do is look at run times, faults, and satus of the machine but only at home using the wifi network they are connected to. It will email you when a fault occurs. Once I got the dryer air leak fault indicating the dryer filter needed to be cleaned. Very cool but still way below what it could be doing and not all that usefull. The potential is great, just has yet to be tapped.

This commercial elaborates on the usefulness on smart appliances and features a few Miele products. Looking forward to what's to come.

Also, yes the Miele USA website blows. Pull it together Miele....

Here is a link that might be useful: IBM / Miele