*My Hunt for Good fully automatic WM
*I first looked at all MouthShut reviews. I was not even aware that Siemens sells washing machine in India. I first thought of purchasing IFB and almost finalized it. But after reading nice reviews about Siemens WM, I decided on buying 7kg machine.
Though, most of the reviews were quite old. I placed my full trust on German quality and superior technology. Siemens brand is valued world over.
*Locating Dealer
*It was little difficult in Hyderabad. There is no website and no showroom keep Siemens machine. Finally, got the phone number from Google local business search. It is adjacent to Taarbund signal and it is not like showroom. It is kind of a service center look. But, if you are interested in a good product, then flashy showroom looks are not required.
Deciding on Capacity
5.5kg WM07A165 and WM10A165 seem to be good and hot selling models. But I had to go for large capacity since there are 2 kids and 4 adults in my family. Surprisingly, kids’s laundry is more than adult’s laundary. 5.5kg would have been too small for me. I would suggest you to go for larger capacity as the Siemens WM life is at least 4000 wash cycles and during that time, your family might extend. Even with 7 kg machine, I use it 5-6 times a week.
Even 7kg WM is quite compact and nice in design and looks less bulky.
Use your own good judgement to decide on capacity - minimum available is 5.5 and maximum 8 kg
*Purchase
*The sales executive gave complete information about all models. The machine gets manufactured using German parts and they are assembled in Turkey or Spain. Mine is from Turkey. These machines, I think, are all imported. Please clarify all doubts before making the purchase. For ex, I didn’t go for LCD display model as it has extra cost.
*Installation and Demo
*I made purchase on 14-Aug-08 and next 3 days were holidays. I had requested to complete the delivery and installation on 14-Aug itself. As promised they came during the night and installed the machine. They had raised the level of machine from the ground and checked to see if there will be no vibration. The machine should be secured on its legs properly, otherwise it might vibrate during operation. Make sure that you try to shake the machine yourself and feel that it is not moving even a millimeter.
Demo was also good and informative.
*Product
*The quality and design of product is really good. The controls are really designed well and you will understand within 5 minutes all the 15 different programs. There is no fancy buttons, but a single radio tuner look-like knob to select different programs. The displays are really cool and easy to understand - you can turn the knob depending on the wash required.
In addition, there are feather touch buttons to select RPM for spin(600-1200) and extra functions like Extra Rinse, Stains etc.
As mentioned in other MS reviews, the machine is completely noiseless. You will not even know that laundry is being done.
*Other Features
*It has some load detection system and extra detergent detection. I think it fine tunes the program depending on the load and soap you had put. It has child loch also. Once program is selected, the machine door gets locked. And the door can be opened after wash - it can fully open 180 degrees.
Other thing I observed is that it consumes very little water. They claim that it consumes just 60-70 lts per wash, which is really great and good for our environment. Elec consumption is also optimal as Siemens is famous for addressing environment concerns proactively.
*Comparison with previously used machine
*I had semi-automatic Videocon 6kg. It worked fine for 5 yrs without any problem. Recently, the wash quality was not good and service person said that there was no problem. So, had to go for fully automatic machine.
These are glaring differences in previous WM and Siemens WM:
(1) Wash Quality too good for Siemens
(2) Surf Excel - consumption is one third less in Siemens. For full capacity, I’m putting just 1.25 spoons of Surf Excel. Sales executive has recommended Surf Automatic powder which he tells that will be less foamy. I’ll buy it once normal Surf Excel finishes.
(3) Vanish - No need to use it in Siemens as quality without Vanish is very good
(4) Noise - Videocon semi too noisy, can easily wake up sleeping kids. Siemens is very quite.
(5) No choice of selecing the type of wash depending on the need in Videocon semi
The biggest advantage we felt was that there was no manual attention required for Siemens(as with other fully automatic machines). This will definitely be good for backache and time saver. The clothes used to entangle in the semi washer and dryer(not sure if it is because of top load) and it used to be very tough to spin and remove the clothes. This problem is not there in Siemens, You can remove the clothes easily and they are not entangled.
*Some Tips
*(1) Don’t use extra options like’Extra Rinse’, ’Stains’ if it is a normal wash. These programs take longer and not good for your water/ electricity bills.
(2) Though you have options to select 600-1200 rpm, select 600rpm so that it consumes less electricity. Use 1200 only if it is raining heavily outside and there is no way that clothes will dry up in 12 hrs
*Are you shifting house?
*Always call Service before you shift. Service person will secure the washing drum with 4 screws so that drum remains safe on the bumpy ride. The same process was followed when they transported from shop to my house. Installation guy will remove these screws during installation and give it back to you. Please keep them safe as you will have to use them before you pack machine for the transport. Please don’t rely on movers and packers. They will have minimum knowledge about your precious WM.
User Manual
Give the model number "WM12E160IN" after opening the below link(Left bottom of page contains link for Instruction Manual Download).
https://bshappliancecare.com/siemens/
This is just first week of use. I’ll update the review with more inputs after a couple of months.
If you want more information, put in the comment, I’ll try including that info also in next review.