Miele [F16] fault codewhat it means and how to fix it

F16 is Miele’s general excess-detergent code, and their published remedy has three parts: reduce additives, choose a programme suited to the load, and follow the detergent manufacturer’s dosage guidance for your water hardness and soiling level. All three are worth taking literally. Reducing additives means fabric conditioner and stain boosters as well as detergent, because they foam too and they are the ones people add by eye.

Choosing a programme suited to the load matters because a short cycle has fewer rinses, so the same dose leaves more behind. And the water hardness point is the one that changes most people’s behaviour, because dosage instructions on a bottle are written across hardness bands and most people never read past the first number.

In a soft water area the correct dose can be half what a hard water household needs, and the excess has nowhere to go. The consequences are not just cosmetic. Persistent over-dosing leaves residue in the drum and the seal, which is how you end up at F92 and a mouldy machine, and it produces the foam that stops the spin and gives you F56. Those three codes are one problem seen from three angles.

1. 1

   Find out your water hardness from your water supplier, then read the dosage table on the detergent for that band rather than the headline figure.

2. 2

   Cut the dose to match. In a soft water area that is often around half what you have been using.

3. 3

   Reduce or stop the fabric conditioner for a few washes and see whether the code returns.

4. 4

   Match the programme to the load. A heavily soiled load on a short cycle is the worst combination for residue.

5. 5

   Run a maintenance wash on an empty drum to clear what has already built up.