Fill Drum Only Three-Quarters? Is This The New Trend With Front Loaders

[launderess]

There's me nosing around the owner's manual for Miele's 3033 when it came at me; "...load washer 3/4 of the way full... clothes need room to tumble...". What sort of nonesense is this?

Was always taught to load front loading washers "full" enough so that one could get a fist worth of width between the top of the wash and the tub. Laundry would compact down once wet and reduce the volume of washing.

If the Miele 3033 is rated to hold 6kg (or whatever) by design of the tub, but only 3/4 worth of space can be used that isn't totally true then is it? I mean my w1070 can truly hold about 11 pounds (5kg) of washing depending upon what load composition.

 

[arbilab]

User discretion advised

Just a queen linen set fills my FL dry. Once wet, one could probably fit another set just like it and it would likely work just fine. Were one to jam dungarees where another wouldn't fit, that's a very different load than bedlinens.

How does one skillfully describe that distinction in an instruction manual? It falls upon the user to apply common sense to observation of the results and adjust accordion. N'est-ce pas?

 

[seamusuk]

A fist space between the laundry and drum......

Hey Guys
Thats what I go by and it works fine ...
Seamus

 

[dj-gabriele]

No fist for me!

To me (and according to the manual too) a FULL load, is when the drum is TOTALLY filled with mixed cottons and that reflects the weight. 5kg in my machine take up the whole space of the drum with clothes that are not packed, although not loosely put. When water is loaded the weight and movement push down the level to around 4/5 of the drum. That's how the machine was designed.

Maybe it's just something made to please the Americans? I have never seen something like that over here in Europe. Out of curiosity I even loaded the drum of my older Candy Alisè to capacity... 5 kg of clothes too, they're quite packed indeed! But HIGH water levels and good tumbling will take care of the washing no problem!
3/4 of the drum would be useful for tumble drying stuff in a washer/dryer, indeed in the past models you needed to press the 5/3 button to enable automatic drying! Explicitly telling the machine you put only 3 kg of clothing instead of the full 5kg load!

 

[frigilux]

Is the Miele 3033 a new model? If so, perhaps the directive to fill the tub only three-fourths full has to do with the small amount of water used in any given fill. Having said that, my ultra-low water-use Frigidaire gets filled to the very top with loads of bath linens and greatly-stained kitchen whites and everything emerges clean.

I was looking at the manual for a new front-loading Maytag or Whirlpool...or was it LG... anyway, they recommended filling the machine 3/4 full when washing permanent press-type items.

 

[mrboilwash]

I assume the new 3/4 rule applies to all sorts of cycles.
Maybe it`s because American toploaders can be used at full capacity even in the permpress and delicate cycles.

It`s propably just to make things less complicated by underloading cottons a little and overloading everything else a little.

I mean loading instructions can be complicated in Europe. For example some manufacturers even recommend a half load maximum for the quick cotton cycles because the machine will skip a rinse or spin.

Would be nice to hear Miele`s opinion on that one, though.

 

[ronhic]

I'd be interested to know the following:

- how long the cottons 40c/warm cycle is
- how many rinses are standard on the cycle

 

[launderess]

Pipe:

http://www.plessers.com/photos/p/00000/3336.PDF

 

[mrb627]

Normal Program

<span style="font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">I think that only really applies to the NORMAL program as that is the one cycle that doesn't use the heater and cleaning performance is a little better with the machine slightly underloaded.  Although, I do load 2/3 to 3/4 for the DENIM/JEANS program to minimize wrinkling.</span>

<span style="font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;"> </span>

<span style="font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">Malcolm</span>

 

[hoover1100]

Fill the drum 3/4

Possibly the new thing on American machines, but from what I've seen the only similarity between most American and most European front loaders is they way you load the clothes, aside from that the American ones bear more resemblance to a top loader in terms of load sizes and programming!

If anything most European manufacturers claim their machines can be crammed with far more clothes than you could every physically get clean in them.

Matt

 

[sudsmaster]

From Miele's owner's manual for the 1918 washer:

Recommended load sizes are noted
below:
COTTONS. . . . . . . . . . . . 11 lbs (5.0 kg)
PERMANENT PRESS. . . 4.5 lbs (2.0 kg)
FINE/DELICATES. . . . . . 2.0 lbs (1.0 kg)
WOOLENS. . . . . . . . . . . 2.0 lbs (1.0 kg)
FINE RINSE . . . . . . . . . . 4.5 lbs (5.0 kg)

In other words, for most clothing, you only want to load the drum less than half full.

It says nothing about fists or fractions of drum capacity by volume. But I suspect since most American laundry rooms do not have a scale, and most Americans have never weighed the washload, the load by volume approach is more practical if less accurate.

 

[dj-gabriele]

The load chart you posted is pretty much standard over here!
Full load is always for cottons and linens, the other cycles will be loaded with less clothing because they're gentler and stuff needs room to clean properly and not crease/ruin itself.

 

[ronhic]

Pound to a penny it's because the cycle times are quicker than a traditional 'warm cottons' cycle would be in the same machine in Europe.

i.e. the standard cycle is effectively the 'quick wash' and therefore, to have effective cleaning you need more mechanical action - clothes movement.

 

[warrenkeller]

Hi all. Here is a photo of my old EWFLS70J washer The water level is always right under the lip. On fast wash and heavy duty and sanitize the water was up to the top of the lip. I didn't notice that the "add more water" button worked at all. Didn't seem to add more water to me. Also I had to start adding my own water to the cycle for bedding and towels. That's when I said screw this and got rid of the junk

 

[brisnat81]

Gardenweb regularily talks about the fact that the Custom Cycle is the same as cottons in the rest of the world. There is no note under custom that the drum should be 3/4 full.

According to Gardenweb, the heater is not engaged in the normal cycle, because that is used for the energy star testing and it relies on the hot fill to get to temp.

I'm surpised that manual doesnt have the maximum load sizes for each type of cycle like the manuals for the rest of the world do. Maybe thats why there is a statement about 3/4 full and that way you guarentee good results regardless of having to remember which cycles can be filled to the top.

 

[logixx]

Fill up to 1/2, 3/4 etc. full seems to be what US manuals prefer. Few washers state how many lbs. a cycle can handle - and if they do, it's disappointing like the huge LG WaveForce that is maxed out with just eight lbs. when using the Sanitary cycle.

This is a chart from a WP front loader:

 

[sudsmaster]

From the Miele owner's manual for the W1065 washer:

Loading the washing machine

Unfold all the items and load them loosely into the drum without compressing. Underloading the machine is uneconomical whilst overloading will impair wash results. It is therefore advisable to load the machine to its full recommended capacity, when possible, i.e. 11 lbs. dry laundry for light or normally soiled cottons.

For permanent press programs do not exceed a maximum of 3.3 lbs dry laundry (appros. 8 shirts) and approx. 2.2 lbs for delicates and woollens.

Curtains:

Fill the drum loosely to 1/3 capacity.

 

[rapunzel]

All this fiddle faddle

If I want to wash one pair of jeans or a t-shirt and a teddy, or if I load my top loader to the brim, or any load size inbetween - it still cleans and rinses the same; without unbalancing, I might add.

The old Euro front loaders, that I was used to, were stuffed full to the max, used heaps of water and worked consistently and brilliantly under those conditions.

If the product development boffins stuck to the basic design principles that have worked for the better part of the last 100 years, we'd not see exploding washers, inconsistent cleaning and rinsing and all the other little annoyances that are designed into modern washers. What is wrong with keeping it simple, stupid?

 

[launderess]

A Teddy?

The mind reels but will have to put it on a shelf for another time! *LOL*