Actual vs. rated capacity

[Designgeek]

Seems to me that the actual capacity of washers tends to be lower than their rated capacity. I have never seen a machine, top or front loader, including commercial-grade machines at laundromats, that can effectively deal with more than about 50 - 70% of its rated capacity. Putting in 100% of rated weight only tends to overload the machine at the expense of cleaning effectiveness. In a top loader, overloads could also cause excessive mechanical wear.

So the question is, how many of us have actually weighed the loads going in? And what results are we getting?

What I'm looking for is: Machine make & model number, type (vertical agitator, vertical impeller/pulsator, horizontal drum, inclined-axis drum, other), diameter of drum, depth of drum (specify inches or centimeters) manufacturer's rated maximum capacity (specify lbs. or kg.), and actual maximum capacity in your own experience (please use weighed loads, don't estimate based on the "apparent" weight of a given volume; also specify if loads contain "difficult" items such as blue jeans or large articles such as sheets).

When getting weights, be sure to subtract out the tare (empty) weight of your laundry basket or equivalent container. 5-gallon buckets on shipping scales are useful for this purpose. If the washing container is an odd shape, e.g. the Hoovers which are rectangular with the lower right corner cut to an angle, try to get measurements if possible.

I have a hypothesis that there will turn out to be a consistent numerical relationship between the dimensions of the drum and the actual load capacity. (I know that agitators vary in absolute volume or displacement, but I think this factor will average-out.)

Seems like y'all could gather a huge amount of data quickly, since most people here have more than one washer and some have sizeable collections. This might also be an interesting bit of research to do at the yearly convention. And it could have significant value to consumers for whom usable capacity is a factor in their buying decisions.

 

[frigilux]

Hmmmmmm. The problem I see here is this: I could probably get 12 pounds of bath towels into my machine, but 12 pounds of nylon probably wouldn't fit into my laundry room, let alone my FL Frigidaire. You have stoked my curiosity, though, designgeek, so I will weigh a couple of different but typical loads this weekend when I do the laundry. The manual for my machine doesn't list a load limit in weight. It just says to load the tub fully, but without packing the clothes in.

 

[gyrafoam]

Back when I sold appliances, noe of Maytag's selling points was "so what if the tub is huge-----does it fill ALL THE WAY TO THE VERY TOP when set at high water level? The Maytags do. My '64 Maytag fills right to the edge of the metal cap on the agitator when set on full, and my '68 Maytag fills right to the line even causing the fabric softener cup to float up if not weighted down with fabric softener. I always say it thinks it is an AMP! My 1-18 has a HUGE tub but does not fill all the way to the top----in this case that is good because it uses excessive water as it is! If you need to, like most infinite fills, you can hold the switch on "reset" and add as much extra water as you dare! Yes I think the size of the tub only matters if you can FILL it to the TOP!

 

[Designgeek]

Thanks Frigilux. I'm interested to see what you come up with there.

Interesting point, Gyrafoam. Question is, how much of that water goes out the overflow once the agitation gets going, i.e. what's the water line at the end of the cycle?

Also the obvious point that since fabric density is not a constant, weight for a given volume will vary. Nylons at one extreme, perhaps blue jeans at the other extreme, unless I'm also confusing fabric stiffness with density. Perhaps there's a way to find an average.

Of all the types of materials-handling situations I can think of, washing clothes is probably one of the most challenging in terms of the variability along these lines. And yet I still think that, with a bit of testing, some reasonable averages will emerge.

 

[Cybrvanr]

capacity weight vs cubic feet

Some washer capacities are advertised by weight, while others are advertised by volume. It always made me wonder how weight got to be used as a capacity measurement though. Different fabrics have different densities, and different fabrics can also be more compressible. A washer full of silk clothing I would think would be denser than a washer full of jeans, simply because the denimn fabric is not as flexible. Using the bathroom scales to weigh your clothing before throwing them in can yield vastly different volumes of clothing depending on the material they're made of.

Some of the washer manufacturers these days are using the cubic foot capacity of the washing machine for their spec's. This is a fairly accurate sizing method, especially when comparing two washers on the sales floor, but there is no easy way to measure the cubic foot capacity of your clothing load before you throw it in.

 

[alr2903]

Capacity vs. wt.

Hi, we have had the POD of the kenmores lately and ive noticed on a few of them they state 10lb. capacity where they any smaller than say a std capacity whirly or KM from the seventies? Thanks alr2903.

 

[Lg_guy]

How capacity is measured

Thought you would like to know:

I work for LG and i can tell you that the IEC meassurement takes the actual volume of the tub and multiplies it times a factor of 1.15. This is designed to provide a fair comparison of top load vs front load capacities. You can get more clothes in a front load washer thant you can in top load washer of the same physical capacity because there is no agitator and front loaders wash gentler and more througroughly even with more clothes compacted in. LG currrently makes the largest waher in the world with a physical capacity of 3.32 cu ft = 3.82 IEC

What's important is to check all the other factors listed at www.energystar.gov before making a purchase. The Modified Energy Factor (MEF) measures the energy used during the washing process, including machine energy, water heating energy, and dryer energy. The higher the MEF, the more efficient the clothes washer is.
By all measurements on the goverment website, LG 2677 beats all the brand new machines on the market.

COMPARISON OF CAPACITIES
LG Electronics WM2677H** 3.32 3.82
Maytag MAH9700 3.31 3.81
Whirlpool GHW9150P#** Duet 3.3 3.80
Bosch WFMC6400UC Nexxt premium 3.03 3.48

 

[Designgeek]

Cybrvanr: Yes, agreed, density is an issue, along with flexibility of fabrics. And to complicate matters, a large item such as a table cloth or a blanket, will need more space to move aound without getting tangled or staying in one position during the cycle. Which gets us to....

LG-guy: Cubic feet: thanks. If I understand you correctly, a front loader's capacity is measured as its cubic food drum volume x 1.15, is that right? And this is on the basis that you can get 15% more clothes into a given volume of FL drum compared to the same volume TL drum, or is there something else?

Seems like the closer we get to 4 cubic feet, the curve gets asymptotic and further improvements are very small increments.

Here comes the weekend, which is a good opportunity for folks to take measurements on their weekend wash.

And while we're at it, if you want to go for volume, try this:

Diameter of drum or washtub (or rectangular L x W measurement if that applies, e.g. old square Maytags, Hoovermatics, etc.).

Depth of drum or washtub.

Depth of clothes loaded loosely i.e. dropped into drum without compressing them manually in any way. For TLs, depth of water level when wash cycle is running (that would give you cubic feet of water, which is the effective washing volume).

And your basic observation on whether the rollover action appeared to be adequate.

From those data we could get volumetric capacity information. Effective volume of container, and effective volume of clothes washed, and percentage or ratio between the two.

 

[roto204]

An interesting discussion

This is a very interesting topic, and I can see what you mean about density disparities.

Consumer Reports has lamented the difficulty of objectively quantifying capacities for years, and I found their test of mixed loads (with one day-glo orange washcloth thrown in to quantify rollover) to be very reasonable.

If you see fewer than x number of rotations of the washcloth every minute, then you know that the machine is at or near capacity.

Then, they dry the clothes and measure what comes out.

This specific test notwithstanding, it's a jungle out there. My 1-18 handles mixed loads nicely, but really storms through tons of towels, which is odd--they're so heavy, frictional, and waterlogged. When you get to fabric specifics, the composition of the fabric and the way it interacts with the machine's agitation method start to weigh-in heavily, methinks.

I'll have to run a mixed-load, "flag" washcloth test with my 1-18 and see what I get

Of course, if you have a front-loader, all bets are off with the washcloth test...

 

[westie2]

Rollover Commerical

When Kenmore first came out with the Dual Action Agitator (DAA) Frigidaire did a TV commerical usi9ng a colored sock in the washer vs the Kenmore DAA the same amount of towels in each washer had them washing and then dropped in the socks. I think it was Frigidaire 14 rollovers to the Kenmore's 1. When the socks were first thrown in the Kenmore DAA the sock just laid then the 1-18 just sucked it on down. This commerical was in late 1976 or early 1977 just when the DAA was a big new type agitator. Wish somewhere someone had that commerical.

 

[Designgeek]

Now *that* is a cool way to make an ad. Suggests a similar approach for a hybrid car ad: first show the readout on a gas pump, then show the readout on the odometer ticking steadily upward.

Re. capacities:

Seems to me that this stuff should start getting convergent.

Most important I think, is the volume of usable space. This is an absolutely objective measure: pi times diameter of drum, times depth of drum. For horizontal axis machines, that would give you the volume. For vertical axis machines, you would calculate for the volume that is below the high water line, and you'd subtract the displacement volume of the agitator, to arrive at actual usable drum volume.

If all washers, including those in laundromats, were labeled with this one piece of information (volumetric measurement of drum), people would rapidly learn to correlate it with their actual needs and buy accordingly. "Gee, when I go to the laundromat, I only need a washer with 1.75 cubic foot capacity, so when I go looking to buy, that would be a viable capacity rating for me."