Beko WM 6152

...I ended up buying the Beko WM6152, an innocuous-looking compact white machine with excellent energy credentials and at a mere £219.95. It has a 6 kg drum and a 1500 spin speed. It even had a time delay function whereby you can set the machine 3, 6 or 9 hours in advance as well as a time-save feature to shorten the program running times. The filter was easily accessible as it is at the front of the machine. Super! I thought I'd got myself a bargain. ...
...can only conclude that this Beko had a problem. Whether it was just my particular machine or all of them, I cannot say. I can only reiterate that the engineer said my machine was working properly. If that is the case I feel really sorry for people who have bought it. To be fair, one of my friends is a Beko fan and she is very happy with her machine. Hers is a 1000 spin model and has all the same features as my 1500 spin model. She says that her machine ... more

When my 14 year old trusty Hoover New Wave 1200 spin washer died 2 weeks ago, it opened up a whole new world of modern washing machines for me to explore.

First shock was that these days apparently all new washing machines are cold-fill only for energy saving reasons. This strikes me as rather strange, given that my previous machine was both hot and cold fill and used to thrive cheaply on the endless supply of hot water courtesy of my experimental solar panel (now defunct, alas). So cold-fill seems a pretty retrograde step in my opinion and reduces the choice to take it or leave it. The nice salespeople assured me that modern machines are super-efficient at heating the water so it wouldn't compromise the laundry experience apart from possibly making the program running times longer - more about this later.

The 2nd shock was how much the size and design of machines have changed in the past 14 years. Although new build houses tend to have smaller kitchens than those found in older houses, modern washing machines can be huge bulging beasties which can bow out quite a way in front. This means you may have problems fitting them in the space where an older more-compact washing machine had fitted perfectly. This issue meant that I had to rule out all of the affordable machines in John Lewis as they were all so bulky as to impede the opening of my kitchen unit door and drawer. They would also jut out too much from under the work surface. This did annoy me quite a bit as I fully intended to get my machine from John Lewis as their customer service is good, plus they have free 2 years guarantee as opposed to the single year offered by other shops.

So off I trotted to Currys, where I was relieved to find a fair choice of models of small enough depth to fit my washing machine alcove. My personal criteria were: compact size, had to be less than £300, had to be A grade energy rating and be economical on water use, minimum of 1400 spin speed, had to have a quick wash program of 40 minutes maximum and preferably a brand known to be reliable. Another essential thing was it had to be possible to cancel mid-program as I have naughty teenagers who tend to leave things in their pockets resulting in my running across the kitchen to stop the wash before the item or machine suffers any damage. I also told the sales lady that I tend to use mostly the 30 and 40 degree synthetics wash and occasionally use a wool and silk wash. I never run the high temperature washes and explained that I therefore didn't need a machine which had loads of programs.

I ended up buying the Beko WM6152, an innocuous-looking compact white machine with excellent energy credentials and at a mere £219.95. It has a 6 kg drum and a 1500 spin speed. It even had a time delay function whereby you can set the machine 3, 6 or 9 hours in advance as well as a time-save feature to shorten the program running times. The filter was easily accessible as it is at the front of the machine. Super! I thought I'd got myself a bargain. Little did I know …Cue ominous music and crack of Hammer-horror lightening!

I noticed that the machine already contained water but apparently this is because they are tested before they are sold. A kind friend plumbed the machine in for me. The manual was very clear in its explanation of how to do this. The 4 transit bolts were easily removed and the relevant hoses attached OK. We did have a bit of a fiddle getting the cold water inlet hose attached to the fitting on the mains pipe under the sink but that was on account of the space rather than the machine or hose. Then came the instruction "to prepare the machine for washing, carry out your first washing process without loading your machine and with detergent under the cottons 90 oC program". Well, thought I, I'm not going to waste valuable washing powder on an empty wash, so I deliberately put in only a very small amount of powder. We set and started the program and cracked open a bottle of celebratory wine.

The machine was impressively very quiet in its operation but we soon got bored with watching the water go round so retreated to the garden. The silence was shattered by the cries of my son "Mu-um! You need to see what the washing machine's doing!" Oh dear, foam everywhere! The drum itself was totally filled up with foam from whence it was flowing in a vast lava-like stream from the dispenser drawer, down the front of the machine and creeping menacingly across the kitchen floor towards us. We all agreed that it shouldn't really be doing that, but pragmatically grabbed some saucepans and baled the foam out of the kitchen window.

I noticed at that point that the door glass was so hot it would burn a child's hand. The rest of the machine was much hotter than one would expect too. However, as I wasn't planning on running hot washes, it wouldn't be a problem for me. It would be a problem for people who have a toddler generating soiled nappies that would require hot washes. This struck me as most disturbing. There is a health and safety issue there!

The wash program took exactly 3 hours. Phew what a long time - my old machine took just 2 to do the identical program - so much for modern cold fill and efficient water heating! Still, the spin was wonderfully quiet so I reasoned I wouldn't be disturbed too much by a washing machine running for a few hours. Three hours of listening to my old machine would have done my head in!

The following day I ran my typical 30 degree synthetic wash. It took 2 blooming hours, the clothes came out covered in foam (even though I had cautiously used one-third the recommended amount) and were also much wetter than my 1200 spin machine's result. I had to respin the wash and selected a standalone 1500 spin program. This took 23 minutes precisely as opposed to my old machine's 10 minutes. So far so bad and it just kept getting worse.

The next wash was also a 30 degree synthetic program. Being clever I selected the time save function this time. Guess what, the wash took half an hour longer and, again, needed a separate spin!

Increasingly bemused, I selected a 40 degree wash the next time. The manual said this would take 105 minutes, though I misread this at first and had expected it to take 1 hour and 5 minutes which looked reasonable enough.

2 hours later my daughter started complaining she needed her clothes immediately. Cripes, there they were still going round the machine with no sign of ever being released either. Time to use the cancel button and rescue them. The instructions in the manual indicated to hold down the start/pause/cancel button for 3 seconds. This did not do anything. But half an hour later the button light started flashing and the program would only continue if I pressed the button to unpause it. This kept happening quite randomly but I'm pleased to report we managed to retrieve our washing 11 hours after the program had started. Result, one furious teenager and an equally peeed-off mum. Huh!

An engineer was summoned a few days after the machine was purchased. He expressed surprise at the instruction to hold down the cancel button for just 3 seconds. In fact it needs holding down until the spin button lights up. This can take up to 20 seconds if the machine is having a bolshy moment.

The engineer explained that the continual pausing of the machine is a known issue with that model but ONLY if you have water pressure problems. The water supply pressure must be 1-10 bar and the machine needs a flow of 10-80 litres per minute to run properly, otherwise it cuts out and you have to sit by it to keep switching it back on. A bit of a bore really and totally impractical. I mean WHO has the time to waste doing that! There was probably nothing wrong with my water pressure but the engineer left saying that my machine was working perfectly. He explained the machine uses fuzzy logic and therefore different wash loads and materials will influence the wash time. The machine decides what it is doing as it goes along so you cannot predict how long an individual wash will take. In other words, the machine can hold your washing to ransom whenever it pleases. Grrrrr, swearing is not allowed but you get the picture!!!

To cut a long story short I ended up returning it to Currys and paid £80 more to get a completely different machine, a Hotpoint WT640 to be precise. I have had absolutely no problems at all with the Hotpoint (review coming later) so I can only conclude that this Beko had a problem. Whether it was just my particular machine or all of them, I cannot say. I can only reiterate that the engineer said my machine was working properly. If that is the case I feel really sorry for people who have bought it. To be fair, one of my friends is a Beko fan and she is very happy with her machine. Hers is a 1000 spin model and has all the same features as my 1500 spin model. She says that her machine does occasionally pause when there is a drop in water pressure, though this is very rare, and that it does have quite long wash cycles. If you are bothered by that then avoid the Bekos at all costs.

Now for some useful pieces of data from the manual for those of you who like to know this stuff before deciding what to purchase:

Wash Load Capacity - 6kg
Dimensions - H: 850mm W: 595mm D: 540mm
Ratings - Energy A Wash A Spin B

Energy label program of 60 degree cotton wash has energy use of 1.14 kwh
Range is 0.15 kwh (30 degree handwash) up to 2.00 kwh (90 degree cotton wash)
Typically uses 49 litres water but maximum is 65 litres (60 degree intensive wash)

Here are the programs and running times plus recommended load weight. Be warned that the times are in minutes and not in hours and minutes. I have to say, what is the point of boasting a 6 Kg drum if you are only supposed to wash a maximum of 3 Kg for the most commonly used cycles?? Also the manual doesn't include the 30 degree synthetic wash in its list, though it IS on the program dial. Go figure!

Program Minutes Max weight
Cotton 90 150 6 Kg
Cotton 60 140 6 Kg
Cotton 40 125 6 Kg
Intensive 60 160 6 Kg
Synthetic 60 115 3 Kg
Synthetic 40 105 3 Kg
Delicate 40 70 2 Kg
Woollen 40 55 1.5 Kg
Handwash 30 40 1 Kg

Unfortunately those running times bear no relation at all to my personal experience of this machine. They strike me as rather too long to be practical but apparently conform to European expectations. If you have this machine yourself please do comment on how the running times work for you. 

...less