Siemens iQ800 WM16Y890AU / WM16Y892AU

We bought this washing machine brand a few years ago. We are a family of 4 and have pretty standard needs for a washing machine. This machine has broken down about 15+ times costing us huge amounts in service calls. Very dissatisfied with what is meant to be a high quality reliable brand.

If you are thinking about buying a Siemens washing machine, definitely think very carefully about your decision.

Cleans clothes very well with the auto detergent dispensing, it does not waste detergent,
Nor rough on clothes like previous other washers,
Very quiet,
Love the programmed stop function, the machine will delay start and have your washing finished at a designated time, either when you wake up or when you get home from work, to avoid sitting in the machine wet for hours.

Looks great, handles large loads easily. Reliable and energy efficient. Very quiet even with heavy duty washing. Lots of wash option cycles which can be altered to suit, very gentle on clothes yet gets them super clean. Would not use any other Brand in the future .... happiness in the Laundry. Previously used Bosch machines which are made by same company I believe but they sounded like planes taking off and coming in to land.

My machine gets a good workout and is strong and reliable. I have had many of the other brands and experienced problems with the electronics. It is a good solid washing machine and I can recommend it for families. It is easy to access for cleaning filters etc. also very quiet while in operation.

What's not to like about this washing machine. If you can't read the instructions it would be a bother but for literate persons its amazing.
Not more moldy washing because it has a clean cycle that fixes that, and it tells you when to run that cycle too.
The wash has no residual detergent so your cloths don't have that soapy feeling. The machine adds the detergent and softener so you just put the cloths in and start washing. It turns itself of when it's done!
No shaking the house down when it spins and it's so quiet, it's often difficult to know when its on. FANTASTIC!!

I purchased this washing machine in June 2016 to replace another machine that I had had endless problems with (see other reviews). This machine is quiet and works efficiently. It has a wide range of programs and it is fairly easy to set the machine to wash at whatever spin speed, temperature or number of rinses you might like. It dispenses detergent automatically for most washes (not on delicates, etc). Overall I'm very happy and satisfied with it. No service calls unlike my previous machine!

Design:
The machine stores liquid detergent in tanks and then dispenses detergent (and softer) automatically. Turbidly sensor and other sensors sense how much detergent and how much washing and rinsing is required.

The good points:
Automatically senses how much washing and how much detergent is required.
Traditional machines was for a fixed time in the hope that the clothes must be clean by the end, this machine senses and washes until the clothes are clean.
Saves water, saves time, saves detergent and saves the clothes compared to washing so long that the clothes almost certainly will have been cleaned before the program has ended.
Good choice of cycles.
Stain removing programs are amazing and very effective.

The negatives.
The machine may sense extra washing time or an extra rinse is required which can change timing from the orginal estimate.
There was one an initial fault where after some time the detergent reservoirs started leaking. When we contacted service they knew of the problem and sent replacement, enlarged stoppers.
As other reviews have noted mould forms in the rubber door gasket. This is due to the design ensuring that too much moisture is retained in this seal between washes.
The machine was initially almost silent but sound level has increased over time.

Summary:
A breakthrough technology that does a better of job of washing

Owned the machine only a few months when it began failing to spin the clothes properly, occasionally at first but then all the time. Not it wasn't operator error. It didn't spin up to speed for the serviceman either.

It took many months and numerous service calls before it was eventually repaired. They replaced the motor and every electronic circuit board in the machine, one part at a time. Repairs by trial and error.

Now the same fault has started again. Goes through the cycle and then only spins slowly so the clothes come out dripping wet. Doesn't matter which cycle or size of load. It won't even spin a single Chux wipe.

When it work it is OK. Just OK, definitely nothing outstanding considering the price. But any machine that keeps needing repairs on an annual basis is total rubbish. Don't buy a Siemens.

We have had this washing machine for over 2 years & I don't feel like it washes very well. I have tried every different cycle in an attempt to make sure it was me & I have found every one the same. Our towels are scratchy & stiff, like wiping yourself on a piece of sand paper sometimes. I did a lot of investigation prior to purchasing this machine & thought it was the best, I'm very disappointed. I wouldn't bother spending the money on another one the same brand.

I purchased an I dos 800 less than 3 years ago. Less than 14 months later my washing was sprayed with black oil, repairmen kept telling me that nothing was wrong with it yet the washing was displaying the opposite. The machine was eventually replaced with another and low and behold less than 13 months later the exact same thing has happened I like this mac home but I am so terribly disappointed and frustrated with the service
Debbie

Our machine worked well for the first 3 months. Now it does not spin properly and all clothes come out soaking wet. It doesn't matter what setting we have it on. Whether we fill it with clothes as recommended or just try to spin a load. Wet wet wet. Disappointed that the repairer has said it needs a new load sensor!!!

The automatic dose feature sounded great but in fact it leaked detergent. At first I thought I had spilled it and cleaned up the floor. I refilled the dispenser and the next morning found the entire contents all over my laundry floor. What a waste. When I phoned to book a service call I was advised the job was too small for someone to come out and fix the machine. Instead replacement seals were mailed to me and I had to fix the machine myself!

It operated reasonably for next 12 months or so but now it has stopped dispensing the detergent altogether. At least the company has agreed to a service call this time.

All in all I'm very disappointed and regretting my purchase.

We've had this machine about 6 months, and so far the cleaning results have been excellent.

The washing machine is very quiet and the I-DOS system saves time and detergent by automatically measuring the required detergent based on the load. We particularly like that you can have 2 different (liquid) detergents in the machine for different programs. We have kids and we use a low allergen/chemical detergent for their clothes.

The delayed start timer function is very helpful, allowing you to put the washing in at night, ready for washing in the morning.

Fabrics come out in very good condition and we have not noticed any wearing issues - the machine seems to be gentle on clothes.

The only issue with the machine is that the seal inside the door requires wiping dry after washing. If you don't wipe inside this seal, a small amount of waste water sits in there and is perfect conditions to grow mould. The seal is easy enough to wipe - we keep a cloth for this one purpose next to the machine.

For a machine of this price point the quality is very good, although I would not expect a design flaw that creates such a health issue (mould) in the seal. I would have rated 5 stars, if not for this issue.

We've had the iQ800 for a little over two years and the rubber door seal is absolutely disgusting. There is mould growing everywhere and also in the crevice between the drum and seal which I can't get my fingers in to clean.

Called Siemens customer service and was condescendingly advised that I should use Milton disinfectant solution and hot washes. Tried that got rid of a bit of the mould on the seal surface but did nothing for the mould in the seal crevice.

For the record, we always wipe off the seal and leave the door open at least for 24 hours after every wash. I've had cheap front loaders in the past (Simpson, LG, etc.) and have never had this problem. It incredibly disappointing to spend big money ($2000) on what is supposedly a premium washing machine and to find that it can't even keep itself clean.

What's more, the instructions manual doesn't say anything about cleaning and maintenance. Customer service spoke to me as if I'm an idiot and said I could be charged money as the seals are not covered under warranty. I would argue that a washing machine with that much gunk and mould in it, despite me undertaking regular cleaning after every wash, is not fit for purpose.

My 14-month-old son has eczema and I have allergies - I don't think a mouldy washing machine will help.

Apart from that issue, it washes well, is quiet and feels quite solid.

I can't recommend this washing machine until the mouldy door seal issue has been resolved.

We have had the dryer for about one year. It dries very quickly, the laundry does not get hot and we use the condensed water for ironing as we now live in an area with very hard water.
It is pretty quiet and the fact that it dries at a lower temperature means the clothes last longer - no more melted underpants waistbands!

In the family we have another Siemens and 2 Bosch dryers. They are both owned by the same company and are basically the same. It was a question of who was offering the best price and warranty at the time of purchase.
All worked well and (touch wood) there have been no problems. The oldest machine is 6 years old.

We moved from a Fisher & Paykel washing machine about a month ago now, this machine is in a totally different league, the iDos is fantastic, load gauge and remaining time are all very handy features, to top it all off the machine is super quiet.
With 2 kids we wash about 4 days a week.

My wife and i shopped around and researched before we brought both the IDOS washing machine and also the matching dryer. These are quite an expensive purchase however with the name Siemens we thought that we couldn't go wrong with reliability ect... how wrong we were.

The machine does make life easy with the IDOS and also washes the clothes extremely well however we have not even had the machine 2 years and have had it fixed twice, with it out of action for weeks.

First the Hall sensor went which meant the machine, with the weighing system believed the machine was always over-loaded even when empty and would not spin the clothes. This was fixed however the parts seem to always have to be shipped in so having to take numerous days off of work (getting the problem looked at, then waiting for the part to arrive and then getting it fixed, which was trial and error) and living without a washing machine is quite the pain.

Then there seems to be a known problem with the doors of these machines and the weight as out door went out of alignment so the door would not lock and cause issues with the locking mechanism. So once again more time with out a washing machine.

The company that have always come to fix it have been lovely however this is not what you would expect from top of the range washing machine and dyer that are over 5k for the pair especially given that there is only 2 of us using it so it def has not had a hard life... i couldn't imagine having a large family and really using this machine hard.

Lucky enough the door issue has also now happened with the dryer which requires a whole new door and hinge assembly so I'm really truly disappointed with the siemens products and could not recommend them to others as they have been the must un-reliable washer and dryer i have owned. Granted they have a 5 year warranty and do wash well but the amount of problems we have had already with them I'm wishing i was able to replace them and am dreading the ongoing running and repair costs after the warranty expires.

I have researched this machine for over 12 months and was tossing up between it and the top of the range Bosch.
NOTE there are two Siemens models very similar in features one has iDOS WM16Y890
and WM16Y790 which does not.

If you compare warranties between companies the Siemens machines come out way in front.
I was after a quality 8kg+ non Asian made washer that had plenty of features, very energy efficient and with a brushless motor (for anti-vibration) and longevity.
The Siemens warranty and price I received from Appliances online sealed the deal.

I found even LG and Hoover were offering better warranties than Bosch German made machines!

Had the washer in use now for 2 months and love it, washes very well.
May be a little complicated for an older person initially however, best to get familiar with the range of settings as its worth the results.
UPDATE: Oct 2016 Machine continues to work well, highly recommend.
Warranty, bright LCD screen, German made, energy/water rating, motor

We bought this top of the line Siemens iQ 800 WM16Y890AU after reading through a lot of reviews, manuals and speaking to a few different retailers around Melbourne. Our primary reason for choosing this top of the line Siemens machine was it is generous 8 Kg capacity, German Made, offered 5 years warranty out of the box so no additional purchase of vendor warranties required, 1600 RPM , 5 Star water rating and the last one we got a good discount almost 30% during a promotion period although we still shelled out almost $2000 for it which by no means is cheap…so we expected a decent performance and longevity out of it. We also compared this machine with the Bosch WAY32540AU ( which is exactly the same machine including the manual with only 2 yrs warranty but with Bosch's infamous customer service) and the Miele W 5741 and W 5873 WPS and Samsung 10KG Washer/Dryer but this one give the best cost benefits.

By the way I should also mention that we also got lured by Siemens’ offer to supply us 12 x 1 Litre bottles of OMO Liquid Detergent and $150 mail in rebate from Vic Government for the 5 Star Water Rating of the machine…

Before I get into the nitty gritties of how the machine behaves and works, I would like to add that before I decided to buy the machine I actually downloaded the manuals for the Siemens , Bosch , Miele and Samsung to see how a typical cycle would be and what needs to be done ( rather can be done) with each... One of my mates who actually works for Bosch Australia mentioned that Bosch and Siemens have an arrangement and not only share the design of White goods but also manufacture at the same factory... the only major difference is that some of the Bosch components are made in Germany and the machine assembled in China/Thailand where are Siemens are fully made in Germany. I read the manual for the x890 thoroughly to get a good understanding of how it works before I even did my first load of laundry...

Just a bit of background info about us...
We are a couple so most of our clothes are usual business attire and everyday house hold items like shirts, jeans, undies, socks, bath towels and robes and occasional bed sheets & doona covers. Hence not much of kids or sports heavily soiled clothes or even stained clothes…not yet at least. We have been using this machine now for almost three months and have gone though most kind of washes that one would encounter.

First impressions were very good…it looks solid built and the touch enabled buttons and LED display was very sharp and easily readable in bright light. The white dome light is very handy…even the top end Miele wasn’t offering it…We have this machine professionally installed on the concrete plinth so it is as stable as it can be. We spent the extra $150 on this x890 model as compared to x790 model due to the two extra Auto modes which Siemens claims to be “Automatic Program: Sensor-controlled washing & dosage” obviously we tried to see how it did in the very first wash which had mixed clothes including a bath robe and a Egyptian cotton bath towel. The load was not more than 5 Kgs ( I liked the Live load weight bar on the LED display as you load the machine with the clothes.)

However it took more than 2 hrs on Automatic mode with a good spin at 1400RPM to go through the cycle. I was surprised to notice how quite the machine was at 1400 RPM. The clothes came out smelling well and reasonably clean but I noticed that the towels were very rough after line drying. Anyway, over the next two- four weeks we went through a few loads of washing including the 15 minute Quick Wash for which I have to mention is a marketing gimmick to an extent… there are a lot of caveats for wash programs and their respective times like you cannot do more than 2Kg of wash in the Quick 15 wash...the maximum spin speed would be 800RPM …so in effect if you want to change the settings to faster final spin you will be adding time to the overall cycle as the machine takes a while to rev up to the top speed of 1600 RPM hence the additional time and not all Wash Programs are fully customisable… so for instance you have the Mixed Fabrics Program …you can’t increase the water temperature beyond 50 Degrees or so… or in certain other programs you can only go unto 1200 RPM… Personally I would have liked to have each program fully customisable as well as have an option to save my top two most used settings (Siemens engineers are you listening?).

I understand the programs were set with the restrictions so that according to Siemens the machine gives the best performance automatically but I guess sometimes ( most of the times rather) the user is better informed as to what kind of clothes are being washed, than a sensor in the machine. One of the most annoying things about the machine was when I tried to wash a very small batch of socks which would have been hardly 1.5 Kgs and I was after a quick wash but with the pre-programed “Soiled Socks” Stain wash… guess what… I can’t do it… I cannot select a stain wash when I am on the 15 Minute quick wash…nor I could select an extra Rinse…In order for me to be able to do so I had to select either the Mixed Fabrics or Cotton wash which is pre-programed to be 2:12 minutes then add the Soiled Socks special Stain wash then also add the extra rinse which would have ended up taking 3 hours 20 minutes for the 1.5 Kg wash...which is utterly ridiculous…running the machine for three hours would have cost me more money in Power and Water bills than buying few new pairs of socks….. The dedicated Speed Perfect and ecoPerfect buttons to minimise water and power consumption can help but in this case they didn’t make a lot of difference.
Siemens seriously needs to look at their Programming of these machines… they have got to have a custom memory program…even a $1000 Samsung or LG has one…

The rubber gasket seal also has a tendency to collect water after the wash and in long run if not wiped and maintained can case of build of fungus.

Finally coming down the core use of the device which is washing clothes…. After using the machine for three months I can say the larger items do come out relatively clean but often the smaller shirts or the collars and cuffs of business shirts need a bit of TLC aka prewash / hand wash before throwing it in… I have had to re-do a few of my expensive cotton business shirts a second time to get the desired wash quality… iDos system is meant to save you on detergent and Fabric Softner costs but I have a feeling it also compromises a bit on the actual wash quality. I have now started keeping the iDos setting for Detergent to Medium and Softner setting to high.

Overall I am not happy as [name removed] but also not too disappointed with the unit… There is lot to be improved…I guess I cannot expect the results like a commercial laundry.

A fact that I need to get used to. :(
5 Yrs Warranty , Quietness; Dome Light ; fully Made in Germany
No custom program memory; Restricted customisation on pre-programed washes; Expensive; Time consuming for smaller loads...

WE watched this machine in Winning Appliances show room Brookvale. Watched it washing our old towels and old kitchen towels for the full cycle. The show room staff were washing their towels in the Miele machine W5943WPS just next to it. We watched both machines for two hours and Siemens seemed even more stable no vibration than the Miele. Our old towels seem to suffer a bit of deterioration and this was the only reason we bought the Miele machine. We washed our old towels at home using Miele and there seem to be the same deterioration so it must have been the old fabric not Siemens at fault. At the time of our test Siemens was on extra special so we should have bought it. This is an excellent machine so I write this review for others not to make our mistake, buy it when it comes on good special again. Miele you can only get paltry @200 off. Our Miele is still under 30 days money back so we may still swap it for Siemens if we can obtain the discount available during the test. Siemens does not give 30 days money back, if they did it would be easier to make a choice.
Excellent performance and very well build machine.
Old towels deteriorated in the wash but the same happened in the top of the range Miele machine.