Bosch Series 6 WGG244A9AU

Our old washing machine died after 6 years, so needed to replace it. Did a bit of searching and the general consensus appeared to be to go with Bosch for quality and reliability. Now of course with any popular product there will be outlier cases where people have issues, but again in general the reviews seemed positive. Time for some more… Read more

research. For those who don't know, Bosch have three main groups or "Series" of products with the Series 4 tending to be their more basic entry level machines, the Series 6 mid range, and Series 8 the top of the line. Having said that, a number of the Series 8 machines seem to be very very similar to their matching Series 6 version, differing only by where they have been made plus some other minor features.

For example, the WGG244A9AU we went with appears to be the Series 6 version of the WGG244A0AU Series 8. Doing a side by side comparison, all of the wash cycles were the same, the ratings the same, the only differences I could find was that the 6 was made in Spain and the 8 was made in Germany, with the 8 having a light inside the drum. There was a Series 8 that was even more expensive (eg the WGB256A1AU) that had extra things like a digital knob to select programmes - but it was getting close to double the price and frankly I prefer the physical knob as it's easier to just leave it on the programme you use the most often. We did consider the WGA254U0AU (Series 6, made in China), but decided to pay a little more to get the auto dosing feature - partly because we thought it might save money over time, but mainly because I think we tend to use too much detergent and this could be causing some issues for one of our family who has sensitive skin.

A lot is made by some people of getting the Series 8 because it's made in Germany, with the implication being that they are made better, but having had issues with (I must note not Bosch) very expensive appliances that were German made that wasn't a big attraction for us. We could live without the internal light, so by going with the (made in Spain) Series 6 we saved enough to pay for washing liquid etc for at least a year.

Simple to install, and found that the machine came with "Aqua Protection Plus". This is a Bosch marketing term that means it has some features to reduce the risk of water leaks. It has a float sensor in the base of the machine that will turn the machine off if it detects an internal water leak. It also has what they call a "self sealing hose" - the hose has a valve at the end that is connected to the water supply and the valve can shut the water off at the tap if it detects a *major* leak. I would note that it is not an electronic sensor on the shutoff valve so is purely mechanical - what that means is the valve is not shut off by the washing machine if it detects a leak, but rather the valve shuts itself off if the hose breaks or is disconnected from the washer and water starts to shoot out at full pressure ie faster than the washing machine would normally want. For ultimate protection, an electronic solenoid would be better as it could potentially switch off the water supply even if there is a minor leak, but hey it's definitely better than nothing. (Frankly, to be warned of small leaks it's probably better to get a separate water sensor alarm but that's a totally different subject.) Finally, the hose itself is made up of an internal hose with a separate external corrugated hose - this provides some external physical protection for the water hose inside plus also potentially leaks from the internal hose might travel down into the washer and be detected by the internal float sensor.

In short, "Aqua Protection Plus" reduces the risk of flooding the laundry, but doesn't remove the risk completely. In the olden days it was common practise to turn the water taps on when you did the laundry, and off again when you finished. This is still a good practise, but I doubt many people do it now - in particular with machines frequently now being built into cabinetry where the taps can be hard to access. In addition, there was the risk you might try to run the washing machine without the water tap(s) turned on, and risk burning out a motor.

Overall we have been using this now for a week, and it's been very good. I'd have given it five stars if it wasn't for the initial issue with i-Dos (described below). Currently it is easily 4 stars, maybe 4.5. Will come back and update the review as time goes by but so far the comments would be.....

Positives: * It's quiet. Some of the family have pressed the start button, and because it's so quiet have pressed it again (which pauses the machine) and have wondered why it's not working. I had a vibration sensor on the old washer to tell me when it had finished - doesn't work on this one. Well, it does work but only detects vibrations for between 20 to 40 seconds - when the drum is spinning quickly. This machine is definitely quiet. * It's fast. We are mainly using the "auto/30" programme which takes about an hour to do a wash. * It cleans well, even just with that quick auto programme. * The i-Dos auto dosing feature works. The levels are dropping so it is definitely using the detergent and softener, and significantly less than we were in the habit of using. * The physical selector for the programme means you can leave it on that, and even if the machine is turned off at the power point - when it is turned on again it is set to what you want to use. * It holds a decent amount of clothes. I'd note here that as with all machines, the amount of clothes it can wash at a time varies depending on the material. The machine is rated to hold up to 9 kg of dry cotton clothes. This rating drops to 4kg for mixed clothes (that may include wool and other garments) as when they are wet they will likely weigh about the same. I've seen some people complain about this. This is not a Bosch thing, it's physics.

Negatives: 1. After about 6 washes the i-dos icons started blinking, and an E10:-20 message displayed on the screen. According to the manual that means the pump is possibly blocked and needs cleaning. Was disappointing to see an error message after only six washes, but took it out and cleaned it as instructed. No change. Did it again, and it was fixed. Very odd. Will have to monitor. Maybe the liquid we use is too viscous, or there was some sort of air bubble. Don't know. Will try a different liquid if it keeps happening. 2. Find that water does collect in the silicon/rubber door seal - this can drip on the floor when it is opened and clothes are removed from inside. There are a couple of holes to allow water to drain out from, but it takes a while to do so and also could be an area where dirt can build up and mould grow. Even after only a few days I found soap scum and hairs in the seal. From this perspective, we do miss the Asko with the steel seal. The seal is however a (relatively) inexpensive part to replace, so we can live with it.

Very minor notes: 1. Did notice a small squeaking noise on the second wash, but it seemed to go away. 2. Have found that the time remaining indicator is definitely an estimate - have seen it go from 2 mins remaining to 4 mins remaining - but it's not wildly inaccurate. 3. Quite likely we are too used to using too much detergent, as the clothes do not come out with as much scent as they used to. Can increase the dosage from the default of 50ml, so might do that if it becomes a concern although that is actually the recommended amount for a normal load according to the detergent we use. 4. You can choose to not use i-Dos, and manually add in washing powder or liquid, but there is only the one drawer to put the powder/liquid in. So you cannot manually add in different washing powder/liquid *and* manually add in conditioner. This could be an issue if you have someone with allergies and use special detergent and softener just for their clothes. Perhaps you could put the detergent in the drawer and the conditioner straight into the drum.... 5. Although it does spin at high speed (1400 rpm), my subjective opinion is that it does not leave the clothes as dry as our old Asko did (that also went to 1400 rpm but sounded like a jet taking off as it did it). I suspect it simply does not spin the clothes for as long. This might be gentler on the clothes, but it also means they will take a little longer to dry once put out onto the clothesline or into the dryer. 6. Because it's so quiet, it can be hard to tell that the thing has finished a cycle. It does make a small melody when it finishes, but that is also pretty quiet. There is an option in the manual that states how to make it louder if that's an issue for you. 7. The water hose is not super long - it *just* made it for us, but you may need an extension. 8. The machine is pretested at the factory - meaning there can be some old water in it. The manual recommends running it through a cycle first before using it, and I think that's a good idea just to get rid of any smells. 9. It has a number of features such as "Allergy Plus" that we haven't used yet - again, will update this review when we have!

** 1st update ** After 2 weeks of daily use, the machine is still going strong, with no reoccurrence of the initial E10:-20 message. Have continued to mainly use the auto/30 programme. One thing I will note is that a few times I have used the feature that allows you to add in extra items, or in one case removing some silk pillow cases that I didn't want to go through the standard wash. Just press the start button, then wait to hear the click of the door being unlocked, then can open the door (when I've done it, it's been almost immediate but I assume it will take a bit longer if the machine is full of water that needs to be drained first). To restart, just close the door and press the start button again.

** 2nd update ** Four weeks down the track now, and still no repeat of the error message. The conditioner icon started flashing yesterday, so topped up both containers. There is no reference to how big the containers are in the manual, but checking online it indicates that "The i-DOS compartment can hold up to 0.98 litres of liquid detergent" (no information about the conditioner compartment). Given that the amount of detergent for a standard wash is 50ml (and softener is 20ml), then just for the detergent that means it should be able to cope with 20 washes. We would have run more like 30 washes through the machine by now, so perhaps it is actually under dosing but the results are still good so I'm probably not going to try to adjust the dosage. The marketing material does say that "i-DOS automatically detects the type of fabric, the load volume and the degree of soiling to adjust precisely the detergent needed" so maybe that's why it's using less than 50ml per wash.