Just how much is too much...

[richardc1983]

In a front loader? Ive read 2 hands width, 1 hand width all sorts.

Should the clothes be tumbling with plenty of room or is a full drum going to be ok?

 

[laundromat]

Because of the way fabrics react in the water,once absorbed and saturated, the clothes even if I pack it full, fall from the original level they're at when loaded. That enables them to,not only tumble but relax and distribute evenly. There could be more tangling but,if you load them individually,not all bunched up in a ball, they don't tangle as much. I have yet to overload my babies and am real abusive with larger,bulky loads. Five dogs use lots of the dog beds that fit and five people use lots of bath towels,beach towels,and, bed linens. So,due to our $.49/KWH electric bill,normally around $700, has been lowered to $460 after I got the fls. The lower water use,the higher spin and hanging out instead of in a dryer contribute to the lower power bill.

 

[logixx]

Ideally, one should leave enough space that a fist can fit in between the laundry and the top of the drum. That being said... most manufactures claim load capacities of 8 to 12 kg, which means that not even a hair would fit between laundry and drum. Our consumer magazine recently did a tumble dryer test in which the had to tape the door of a dryer shut, otherwise it wouldn't complete the cycle with a (claimed by the manufacturer) full load as the door kept opening.

 

[adamthemieleman]

Yes, I was always under the impression it was one hands width. That's what I do, never had any problems so far. I guess when it starts filling and tumbling, the air is knocked out, making the load appear smaller.

 

[mrb627]

Depends on the side of the pond

With a larger capacity machine (US Style) I typically target around 60-75% full on dry load size. The EU machines, which are typically smaller and wash a lot longer, fill em up!

Malcolm

 

[washer111]

My 2 Cents

... For what they're worth!

 

With any European-style machine, cram it till you only can get a fist up in there *somewhere* - there will be no issue washing.

 

With a U.S. Style machine, weight it first! Shorter cycles and non-guaranteed water-temperatures will degrade performance. And the machines aren't "designed" for such a crammed load.

 

Used a 20yr old Zanussi in Norway for about 2 weeks - was running every couple of days with a crammed load and delivered great results. Now, when you are tumbling round on what is ice, you definitely need good results! Typically used a 50º Cottons wash ("B"), with generic-brand colour detergent.

Water was filling to the top of the boot - although being a timed machine, there is some variation before it would cycle the water back on again.

 

[liamy1]

Load capacitity

What you may be interested to know is.

I learnt when manufacturers do load testing on their machines to give a weight capacity. They can load the drum with professional style flat loaded clothing from bottom to top. And they leave the door OPEN?

Not really real world situations.

I wish I knew where I had seen this, it may have been washerhelp (part of whitegoods website).

All the manuals I have read say one hands width from laundry to top of drum, and all say there does need to be room for the clothes to "roll" against each other and also to be picked up and dropped to floor of drum in the wash.

If crammed full, the laundry will just moved around in a circle in the water and soap.

 

[mrboilwash]

Thanks to onboard heaters and longer wash times Euro Front Loaders normally still give superb results when loaded to the one hand width rule or maybe even when stuffed full.

But this rule only applies to the normal cotton cycle, delicates or minimum iron require at least two hands width of free space.

Even if a full load of cottons comes out nice and clean, there is also much less wear on fabrics if the washer is not loaded to the max.
So it might be even more economical in the long run, not to wash full loads.

 

[brucelucenta]

All I know is that the front load washer and dryer I have holds a huge amount of clothes. I just washed two complete sets of king size sheets, 4 extra pillow cases and 3 tableclothes in one load. It seemed to do just fine and looked like it could have held more. All are clean and fresh.