Miele S314 Leaking Dust

[whirlcool]

We have a 6 year old Miele S314 vac. It's in great shape however it has started doing something I don't understand.

It used to be that when you changed the vac bag (FJM) the interior of the vac was perfectly clean as well as the motor pre filter. Now when you change the bag, the inside of the bag chamber is covered with dust and the motor pre filter has a lot of dust on it after each bag. This has been going on for about 4 months, and we change bags about every 4 uses due to dog hair.

Last year the coupling that goes on the hose end where it interfaces to the vac needed replacing, so we got the part from our Miele store nearby. The hose fits well and is not loose.

What could be causing our problem? Suction is still very good.

 

[gsheen]

Check bag is sealing properly against the inlet tube on the lid, You could have a faulty spring in the bag locator that is not allowing the bag to seal tightly against the inlet tube, we have had a few with this problem and its always the spring that has either lost tension or gone missing completely, not many only a handful but it does happen.


Gareth  

 

[whirlcool]

Thanks for your reply.

I looked at the vac. Up in the lid I see a short tube that fits into the bag. It's rigid, meaning there is no movement of the tube. I don't see a spring on it either.
Is this where the spring goes?

Now on the bottom, the two black bars type frame where the bag fits into it is somewhat springy up and down. When I take the hose off the machine and look in the hose hole I can see that the bag engaged in the bag hole.

Is there supposed to be a gasket of some kind on the hose end? On mine there isn't one, but there appears to be an indentation where one could fit. Could someone confirm this?

Thanks!

 

[whirlcool]

OK, here is the scoop on this problem.

About the time this started Miele redesigned the FJM bag. Instead of having a flexible rubber seal around the bag intake it now has juat a hard plastic seal.
On the newer Miele models they moved the seal from the bag to around the tube that fits into the bag so the older Miele's Red Star(and possibly others) will not get a good seal with the newer FJM bags becasue there is no seal around the bag input tube. These are the Miele FJM HyClean bags.

I called Miele and they said they have a replacement bag available for customers with this problem, it's the FJM AirClean hags. They are sending me a box of them free of charge. Which I thought was nice on Miele's part to do.

 

[pr-21]

Miele Hyclean

I look for Miele to discontinue the Hyclean bags, they are two bulky and they do let dust escape....


 


 


Bud

 

[whirlcool]

Has anyone seen the new AirClean Miele bags at their Miele dealers yet? I went to several and all they stock are the HyClean bags.

 

[rob_89]

Airclean bags

Hi Whirlcool,

Glad that the problem is now being sorted by Miele. I think the HyClean bags were only on sale for a short time over here in the UK (I bought a box around a year ago in this style, and am pretty sure they were replaced by the AirClean bags shortly afterwards- one of the other UK members may know more). I've had two S300 series models with the HyClean bags fitted without a problem, but I wonder if the bag design had changed since I bought some.

Have you checked the exhaust/HEPA filter too btw? It may need replacement if lots of fine dust has got through the pre-filter. One of mine had arrived with a split generic paper bag fitted, leaving the inside of the cleaner and the tool compartment caked in fine dust. After a good clean up and new bags and filters I didn't have any problems with it.

Rob

 

[whirlcool]

I've had two S300 series models with the HyClean bags fitted without a problem, but I wonder if the bag design had changed since I bought some.

Yes, I was using the HyClean bags for years without a problem but sometime this spring Miele redesigned the FJM Hyclean bag. The collar on the bag where it fits into the vac tube used to have a latex/rubbery seal on it. This year that became a hard plastic ring. On the former bags this rubbery seal kept a good seal on the bag so no dust could escape. On the newer ones there is a 1/4" gap around the opening to the bag. This is where dust is blowing out of the bag into the bag cavity. I am assuming that the FJM AirClean bags have this seal on them.

So if you have the older FJM HyClean bags with the rubber seal on them you are good to go.

Speaking of the HEPA filter, I put a new one in there and in two weeks time it was clogged completely. So I just took it off and won't be replacing it until I see how the unit functions with the new AirClean bags. $50.00 is an awful lot of money to be wasted if it doesn't work.

The other alternative is to replace the part in the lid that contains the bag tube with a newer version that has the rubber seal built into it. Then I would be able to use the current HyClean bags.

 

[twocvbloke]

I just took a look at my ElecTruePart generic bags (GN type, rather than FJM) to see what they have, and while it's not a rubber seal, it's a flexible something that provides a good enough seal to keep the dirt inside the bags... :&#92

 

[whirlcool]

Yes, I noticed a few generic FJM bags have this seal also. My Miele dealer suggested using the GN bags on my vac because it still has that seal. Which is another option for me.
What's funny is about the time that Miele came out with the FJM bags without a seal the boxes were marked "New, improved" on them. Hmph!

 

[twocvbloke]

Yeah, the GN bags are slightly bigger too, meaning slightly better filtration, so better airflow too, assuming you pull out the pre & post filters too cos they're just useless in my opinion (the Prefilter needs to be at minimum a Pleated HEPA filter, kind of like a miniature version of a flat, square air filter in a modern car, heck, if my Tristar can have a pleated filter fitted, then surely a miele can, somehow!!)...

I only got the GN bags for my S316i cos I picked the wrong ones cos I was distracted through enjoying the view of a nice lady who was looking on the lower shelf for bags I knew she wouldn't have...

 

[whirlcool]

Ok guys, and Miele dealers listen up!

I received the new AirClean FJM bags and charcoal HEPA filter from Miele(gratis, now THAT is customer service especially with a 6 year old vac.). They solved the problem and the vac is now much stronger than it had been. I guess I didn't notice the loss of suction either.

It seems the problem is the newer Miele vacs have a seal around the tube in the top of the lid where air from the hose comes on. The HyClean bags without the rubber seal around the bag opening no longer work on the older Mieles which don't have the seal, only the newer ones. You have to use the FJM AirClean bags, which have the rubber seal in the bags in the older Miele vacs in order to avoid dust contaimination of the interior of the vac and the HEPA filter.

So:

HyClean Bags - Miele vac less than two years old.
AirClean Bags - Miele vacs more than two years old.

I am surprised that the two Miele dealers in my area didn't know about this change. It looks like Miele didn't communicate it to their dealer network.

So for those of you who use FJM bags, what does the bag chamber in YOUR Miele look like?