are you sure you are using the 100% of the capacity of your washer?

[johnnyb]

Hello AW.org world again.
After 2 years away, its time to write a post again!
Some days ago , I visited a new friend in Austria. She is from US and she works here the last 3 years. I went to her place to make her some company as she was alone as she had to do some boring housework. One part of that work, was the laundry part.
I was SO surprised when I saw her washing machine! A LG 26Pounds (12kg) washing machine for a single person!!
I asked her why she has a such a big machine and the reply was, that sometimes she need to wash a lot of clothes so she needs space.
After shorting her clothes, she told me "now Look, its been 2 weeks without doing laundry and look how many clothes I have to wash!". She start putting the first load with towels and bedseets on the washer, and when she Finish, the washer was not even in the half loaded!! But her reaction was still something like "oh my god, its full" .
I dont know about yuo guys, but when I bought my first crapy machine 10 years ago (an Indesit one) , when they came to Install it, they show me that the full load is when you press down the clothes and there are 5 fingers available in the washer.
OK, I know that for synthetics the load should me less, and for delicates not more than 2KG.
One year ago I bought a Miele, and from the Miele center they installed again the machine and they show me how the full load looks like and AGAIN it was full and only 4-5 fingers available on the top when you push the clothes down.
I have a 6KG washer (around 13pounds)and within the week I m doing about 4 loads for 2 persons. (changing T-shirt 2 times a day and towels every 2 days)

how much do You load your washer? Until now, everything gets clean. and trush me guys, I cook a lot at home and the kitchen towels usually are extreme dirty with olive oil and tomatoes. and I dont use and booster.

Here is a video how much clothes I put when I do a regular cycle with mixed cottons.

 

[DirectDriveDave]

I go by what has been told to me for many years. No higher than the top row of holes. Works every time.

 

[hoover1100]

I fill it as you say

right to the top until i cannot put any more clothes in it. This is how I was brought up to fill the machine and feel that anything less is just plain wasteful.

 

It is rare to see any videos on the internet of a U.S. front loader with anything more than a small handful of clothes in the bottom of the drum, I have certainly never seen one where the machine is more than half full.

 

This is probably why they think our machines are so "tiny" when infact, our machines wash about the same amount of clothes in one load as their enormous ones do.

 

 

 

[henene4]

Well, our Panasonic with 70l drum just is filled that the clothes are piled loosley. Then, when soaked, a not overloaded wash should not be higher the 3/4 of the drum.
I was wondering about how big US FL and TL are, like, 5 cuft. or even just 4, that would be twice as much as our washer. And a 4 person household is saying it is to small??? How is that we "only" got 2.5 and 2 cft, and we have bigger german washers...

 

[johnnyb]

I never run the washer if its not 100% full.
We are two persons and we never had a case that we need to run the washer with one pound of clothes. even the delicates we wash them on hand. I cant find any reason to wash sensitive items on the washing machine. for what? for the automatic rinse?

John

 

[mich]

I personally...

Never fill the Drum more then 75%, as I want the clothes to have room to move, and tumble freely.

I've never understood why people fill there washer with so many Clothes, so much so that the door barely shuts close, and expect them to move around, or even get clean.

 

[henene4]

But as our cycles take 1h 30 min+, a "full load" is no problem at all...

 

[electron1100]

full up

I always fill to the top, once the clothes are wet they sink down to about 3/4 plenty of room to tumble about, plus my machine has high water levels so that helps aswell.

It often amuses me when some one is showing off the latest supersized machine and it has a just a few items in the bottom of the drum, ah well ;-)

Picture of the machine on a whites wash fully loaded, 4 pillow cases, double fitted sheet, double duvet cover, double mattress cover, T-shirts, T-Towels and other odds and ends

 

[norgechef]

I plug mine half full

I have a traditional top load washer that is about 3.5 Cu.Ft and I feel that I can stuff it about half way or a little more and still get good circulation. Personally I am impressed at how much I can fit in one load especially compared to Whirlpool direct drive top load washers.

 

[dj-gabriele]

Sure my machines run full all the time...

Anything less than a full load is a waste of detergent and utilities.

Since the machines are designed to wash a full load (meaning the full available space of the drum) it's a good thing to use all that can be filled.

See the attached discussion I opened some time ago and all the debate it ignited...

Of course a "full" 5 kg load for the machine (I weighted it!) is made of:

2 bottom double sheets
2 top double sheets
4 pillowcases
2 face towels
2 bidet towels

and the drum can accept it nicely filling completely but without the need to compress the load.

Wash habits: how full is your full load?

In the past months there was some debate regarding the load capacity of American vs European machines, especially centered in the difference of drum volume vs. weight of clothes that could be processed in one batch. So I thought, why not posting some photos to get the idea of what a "full...

www.automaticwasher.org

 

[ronhic]

This comes up time and again

...and it is, generally speaking, North Americans who do not fill a front load washing machine to capacity and maintain the 'duvet' or 'comforter' argument when it comes to buying something that, to European and possibly Australian eyes, is simply enormous.

I've told before of my encounter with a North American lady in a laundrette in the UK.

Confronted with 2 very large garbage bags of washing to do and nothing but a line of front load machines, she did look more than a little perplexed. She started to load and then went to shut the door when the washing only came to the lower edge....I jumped in and said she could 'put much more in' and she did...a few more items.

I commented again that 'you can put a lot more into these machines' to which she replied 'You can? Are you sure it'll wash?'. 'Yes, it'll wash - MILLIONS of Europeans can't be wrong'.

More washing went in until it was just under half full. I tried again. A couple more items. Just over half full now. That was it.

It took this disbelieving woman 3 machines to wash one bag of laundry.

Then she sat and watched intently.

Now I have no doubt that she had not used a front load machine before. However, this is a laundrette with 15-20 machines located in a busy area. There were other machines going that were filled to capacity. Do people not LOOK at what others are doing in order to learn how to do something?

Another example.

We had Canadian friends staying with us 7 years ago who were absolutely amazed at how much my 'teeny little' (5kg) washing machine could take - Janet stood there and watched as I just kept putting more and more in until the full laundry basket of washing was just 'swallowed'.

Sure, there was minimal space left for anything - but that's how you wash with a decent front load machine - FULL. Janet commented that she 'probably would have made that into at LEAST 2 loads...possibly 3' and then when it was done that 'I had no idea that you could wash so much, so well in a machine that size'

A distinct lack of education, exposure to good practices and manufacturers who are both tied to ideals that are strangling good machine performance (legislated efficiency) as well as scared witless of litigation means that ultimately the consumer loses.

There is also the way that capacity is represented in the US that doesn't necessarily reflect the capability of certain machines when compared to others. By that I mean that using the 'cubic feet' measurement alone does not tell a person how much something can wash - it represents a volume measurement. It could also be argued that the provision of a weight alone, such as kilograms or pounds, also doesn't give sufficient information to the user to enable them to get the most out of their machines.

Quite simply, BOTH should be provided.

Cubic feet/cubic metres - to show overall usable capacity

Pounds/kilograms - to show maximum capability (to wash a COTTON load containing items of mixed sizes)

If you look at the advert below and note the items shown at the end, it IS a 5kg/11lb load....manufacturers don't appear to do this style of promotion anymore. I'd argue that they know that the machines they sell that are rated at large weight capacities are simply incapable of having that much dry weight washing put in them in the first place - Whirlpool was caught out here 15 years ago. When their US made top load machine was filled to the claimed amount of washing it was so full the lid was at 45 degrees!

Maybe they were targeting size queens?

Anyway, when it all boils down to it, I agree with everything you've said above regarding 'capacity' and how to utilise it appropriately to get the most out of your machine both from an economy (water/detergent) perspective and from a mechanical one (balancing, optimised spin).

 

[mrb627]

Washing machines

Front loading washing machines are entirely different animals over here in the USA. Ours simply cannot be treated in the same manner as the UK machines. Between the energy restrictions, lower water usage, flimsy component construction...etc. they simply cannot handle long term overloading and still produce clean clothing.

Malcolm

 

[aptone1]

in the US almost all new machines have a load sense algorithm so they add less water to small loads. The energy star program all but demands it. I think the speed queen units are the only full line exception. I have a 5 cu. Ft top load and have seen the water level in the basket vary from 2 to 10+ inches. The only time I have seen any performance degradation from this is when I wash very dirty car and shop rags, even then I was not sure more water would have gotten them much cleaner. I know in the past machines were advertised with weights but there were serious questions regarding what the what fabrics were used in the test load. The practice is no longer used. I would say the machine is overloaded when the clothes stop turning over in the drum. Before the load sensing machine I would say I easily used twice the water per item washed. If I am typical I would guess most loads here are severely over estimated. It will be interesting to see how the new machine holds up using the much lower water amounts. If Malcolm is right I may be shopping again in a few years. I would guess the power needed to turn more clothes in less water is much higher.

 

[wayupnorth]

100% every time

I usually add more water in my old Maytag and use a stick to push everything going around like it should. I do 1 load of white and one of darks when the hamper is full. I am on a septic system so its not good to do multiple little loads. I think the ex large button for water level must be permantly froze there.

 

[mark_wpduet]

European front load machines

are MUCH MUCH better (at least from what I've learned on this forum) than most U.S. front load machines.

We don't have a boil wash! (even though the Sanitary on my Duet gets plenty hot)
We don't have deep rinses (or at least that option)

It's not FAIR!

The drums are LARGE, however, you don't want to load it over 3/4 full, otherwise, the clothes will NOT come clean or be rinsed well. They need all the big drum room to move about all over instead of just barely moving around from being filled to the max.

 

[dj-gabriele]

almost all new machines have a load sense algorithm so they

European machines have that feature since they started being manufactured, either automatic (since the 80s) o manual selecting reduced load.

But it was also stated that while doing two half loads compared to a full load one wastes 50% of the resources because while the machine automatically reduces water level and electricity use, you can't go lower than a certain threshold to make it wash, so a full load wash is always recommended.

 

[haxisfan]

No wash day, no instructions, wash as I go...

I don't really follow any particular criteria to fill up the drum... in my case the less the better, so I can effortlessly cope with drying, folding and storing. Naturally... I don't mean to start the machine with a single pair of socks... like my lodger used to do... despite the fact that I was charging him below average rent!

It's not practical whatsoever for me to match everything to create a full load of laundry... I am perhaps too picky and I end up separating everything not just by colour and type of fabric... but by level of dirt as well. For example, I cannot wait to accumulate a full load of office clothes (my suits or shirts and trousers)... these are generally very lightly soiled and I don't like to put them together with the other clothes that I wear around the house or underwear in general. Same for my gym sweaty stuff... they all go in separate loads... and sometimes separated even further depending on the colour. This is not as complicated as it seems... I just do it mechanically and I often end up having many small loads (like 2 or 3 kgs). I do wash all the towels together reaching a reasonable size load... same for the bedding.

I think a big machine is handy for bigger items that can also be washed in a domestic environment... and while it remains true that a full load yields some savings over two half loads... I haven't personally found this to be an issue. I've been using a 6kg (13.23lb) machine and I was often filling it up to near capacity with certain loads... but since I've also been using a larger machine (8kg=17.64lb), by putting the same size load, it's regarded as a reduced load and as a result, the latter uses exactly the same amount of water and electricity as the smaller one.

Above all... for me, it's practicality! I can easily deal with a small load of clothes in the morning before leaving home to go to work... or in the evening before going to bed... or between dinner and watching a movie: wash it... dry it... fold it... whenever I have a window of time ;-)

 

[joe_in_philly]

I don't often fill my FL washer. After sorting, the average load fills the washer about half way. I usually can fill the washer after a trip, or when doing towels.

Can a full load be dried without wrinkling in a euro sized dryer?

 

[haxisfan]

@joe_in_philly... Definitely!

That's another thing I was meant to mention in my previous comment... small/medium loads come out of the dryer completely crease free ;-)