New: Disinfection rinse on smallest Miele commercial washer-extractors

Reliable protection against the transmission of bacteria is offered by various disinfection programmes featuring on washer-extractors from Miele Professional. With load capacities ranging from 5.5 kg to 32 kg, these machines guarantee safe thermal or chemo-thermal disinfection. Laundry disinfection parameters established by Germany's Robert Koch Institute are complied with throughout. Further standards in terms of safety margins are set by Miele innovations: These include, for example, a disinfection rinse which is now also available on washer-extractors with a 6.5 kg load capacity (Little Giants).

This additional rinse cycle can optionally be added at the end of a disinfection programme. The reason: Under certain circumstances, tap water may contain inadmissible levels of bacterial contamination. Heating the last water intake to
60°C prevents disinfected laundry from becoming recontaminated by substandard tap water. The efficacy of this process has been proved in microbiological tests.

A disinfection rinse elevates the temperature of the load at the end of a cycle. Safety guidelines for commercial machines stipulate that a machine door should only be released once the temperature inside has dropped to at least 55°C. Hence, a cooldown phase has been introduced to ensure that this safe temperature is reached and, equally, to reduce waiting times at the end of programmes. Laundry can therefore be removed immediately for transfer to the tumble dryer for further processing.

Process security is an integral aspect of the disinfection of laundry loads. In this respect, Miele Professional offers a broad range of solutions and innovations: After one minute into the cycle, disinfection programmes on washer-extractors from Miele Professional can neither be interrupted, shortened nor aborted.

The water for all rinse cycles at the end of a disinfecting wash is routed straight into the drum, bypassing the detergent dispenser. This, too, reduces the risk of recontamination.

The temperature in all disinfection programmes is also closely monitored. If the temperature drops below the required level, checks and balances are activated, through to programme termination. This strict regime guarantees that at the end of a disinfection programme the parameters recommended by the Robert Koch Institute are met in full and that laundry is hygienically clean on removal from the machine.

'Container empty' indicators promptly inform users when detergent or disinfectant needs replenishing – and ensures that that a running programme is aborted if there is insufficient product to ensure proper disinfection.

(405 words, 2864 characters incl. spaces)

Company profile: Miele is the world leader in the field of premium domestic appliances including cooking, baking and steam-cooking appliances, refrigeration products, coffee makers, dishwashers and laundry and floorcare products. This line-up is augmented by dishwashers, washer-extractors and tumble dryers for commercial use as well as washer-disinfectors and sterilisers for use in medical and laboratory applications (Miele Professional). The company, founded in 1899, has 8 production plants in Germany and one plant each in Austria, the Czech Republic, China and Romania. 2011/12 turnover amounted to approx. EUR 3.04 bn with sales outside Germany accounting for 70%. Miele is represented with its own sales subsidiaries and via importers in almost 100 countries. The Miele company, now in the fourth generation of family ownership, employs a workforce of oven 16,700 with two-thirds in Germany. The company headquarters are located in Gütersloh/Westphalia, Germany.