A good, reliable washing machine (Bosch WAE2846)

Member Name: Chaos-Theory

Product:	Bosch WAE2846
Date:	26/07/08 (473 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great features, the time remaining display is particularly useful.

Disadvantages: A bit too high tech for me!

My last washing machine was a Bosch - I chose Bosch because I do a LOT of washing and wanted a good reliable brand. Maybe I do more washing than most - I wash about 2 loads a day, sometimes more than that. Anyway, my previous Bosch lasted about 3 years, which I thought was pretty poor, but as I say, maybe I do more washing than the manufacturers anticipated! Anyway, when my last machine finally died the death, the maintenance contract that I had (thankfully) taken out to cover it, stipulated that I would get a replacement and this was the equivalent model that they offered me.

I was too lazy to go to the shops and actually look at it - I've done that before and find I get so confused with all the different models and then the particular one I am supposed to be looking at isn't in stock but they can offer another one slightly different etc etc etc. So, basically, I just checked this one out online, thought it looked ok, and told the maintenance people I would accept it.

It is a good machine, and has some great features - but there are a few things I wasn't aware of from my online investigations, so I thought I'd mention them here and maybe that will help someone else.

It has a digital display which is great in that it tells you how many minutes the cycle has left to run. That's really helpful. The downside is that you also use the digital display for programming. Personally I prefer the old machines where you get a big chunky dial to turn - I feel you have more control that way! You DO use a big chunky dial to choose the wash programme, and it has lots of programmes, far more than I will ever use! I normally just stick to the standard 40 degree wash (about 1hr 15 mins), or the woollen wash (about 40 mins), or the handwash cycle (about 40 mins).

Choosing any of these programmes will make the machine automatically select a temperature and spin speed on the digital display. You can then adjust the temperature and spin speed by pressing a button next to the display. For example, if it automatically selects a spin speed of 1200 and you want 1400 you can change it - though you don't have total control, some wash programmes will only allow you to choose a limited selection of spin speeds and temperatures, which can be a bit frustrating. The standard wash that I use every day has an automatic selection of 60 degree temperature, which is too high for my needs, so I press the button to move it down to 50 degrees and then again to move it to 40 degrees. Sometimes I have a problem with this as when I press the button once to go to 50 degrees, then again to go to 40 degrees, it doesn't stop and goes straight on to 30 degrees, so I have to start all over again. This happens quite a lot - though as yet not frequently enough for me to call out the engineer - but this machine is less than 12 months old and if it's playing up already I have a feeling it will only get worse! That's one of the reasons I prefer a dial - you just turn it to 40 degrees and it stays there - no problem!

One of the reasons I chose this machine was that the online specifications I had seen said it had a pause facility. I have never figured out how to pause it and the instruction manual gives no hint! To be honest the instruction manual leaves a lot to be desired - but that's probably true of most instruction manuals so shouldn't count as a particular criticism of Bosch.

Finally, when the cycle has finished the machine beeps at you, intermittently - a series of beeps every couple of minutes, lasting overall for about fifteen minutes, then it stops. This is quite a useful feature as it stops me going all the way downstairs to check on whether or not it's finished, I just wait for the beeps. The downside is it's really annoying if you've gone to bed with a migraine and want silence!

Summary: A good machine, but maybe fancier than it needs to be.

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