Wash habits: how full is your full load?

[jerrod6]

6K machine.  Here is a load of cotton reds and greens I did today.  After loading it was full to the top with no more room to put anything in.  The contents compact after getting wet.

[this post was last edited: 2/10/2011-21:05]

 

[haxisfan]

I find this thread really interesting but it's far too long to read it all in one go... I gathered you guys have never seen a real clothes overload :-D

Below a link to my extreme overload I did some time ago... I can already hear your critism but before you say anything I swear and cross my heart that this load was impeccably clean after that 3 hour long cycle. It was so huge that I had to split it into two to fit into my 6kg tumble dryer. In the video you'll see the best parts, where everything looked almost normal, but sometimes small items would push towards the rubber boot or thrust against the porthole door almost as if they wanted to pop it open. The rinse cycle looked waterless although I know water was there by the amount of time the solenoid valve was left open: but at the end of the day... or should I say... at the end of the cycle all the garments in the load were well rinsed.

My loads are seldomly this big.

 

[3beltwesty]

Overloaded?

Haxisfan;

Re Nice video.

To state that this was an extreme overload can be defined in hard cold Engineering terms two ways:

(1)POOR WASHING: One could state that a machine is overloaded and thus the clothes were not washed as well as a lessor load. ie the machine is so full that even with water the articles never move with respect to another and or the clean and rinse is poor. ie one has a diaper with poop still in it and it stays in one place, and it makes the entire other articles nearby a toxic mess. Your video shows that the articles mixed and moved around, there was "free airspace when the stuff was being washed " and tumbling and random mixing occurred. A true overload from a bad wash standpoint means the wash was poor and one has to rewash everything.

(2)LIFE OF MACHINE IS RUINED: Once could state that an overload is so high that one effects the normal life of the ball bearings and motor. Ie the motor windings are cooking, the ball bearings have such a high load that one is degrading a normal washers life of 1000 to 5000 washes. Most bearings in washers die due to corrosion, the water seal fails and the bearing corrodes dud to exposure of water and soaps.

Since your stuff came out what you state as acceptable as clean, only item (2) is a possible "overload". The ladies my dad once had to help cleaning would consider you machine underloaded and add gobs of more items. Thus when I arrived home the machine had stuff fermenting and the wash load had to be rewashed in separate loads.

PassatDoc; I am in Harrison County, the middle of the three lower tier coastal counties. The biggest cities are Gulfport, Biloxi, D'Iberville, Long Beach, Pass Christian. The western county is Hancock with Bay St Louis, Waveland, Stennis Space Center, Kiln etc. The population has dropped in most cities due to Katrina's mess and sky high insurance costs. Thanks for helping out with rebuilding. It is still going on for many folks. It is really hard for an outsider to understand sometimes.

 

[haxisfan]

3beltswesty... I agree with most of the points you made as for poor washing (epecially in relation to the 'poop' factor) and the threat to the life of the machine, etc, although as I stressed earlier, this isn't a regular occurrence. The items were randomly mixing and shifting position and... as a matter of fact, at different points during the entire cycle, the load being washed didn't even look as if it was the same one. Besides, none of the items in the load were particulary dirty... moral: the same results could have been obtained with a quick wash on half load for lightly soiled clothes.

I was considering your concept of overloading a washing machine which would have surely entailed (or even suggested) topping up the machine with some more clothes once the water and gravity had done their trick (I know some1 who used to do that too)... however this was as overloaded as overloaded can be in respect to dry clothes being thrusted forcibly inside the drum to the point of surpassing the max capacity of the appliance considered. Even the tumble dryer resulted overloaded with the second lot of clothes from the same load (as you can see towards the end of the clip) and as a result they matured some wrinkles that only time and effort managed to annihilate.

Perhaps another aspect you failed/forgot to mention is the potential damage that could incur to clothes (as they might not be pulled completely into the drum during the high sequence spin cycle for lack of space). In fact, in one of the other occasions in which I overloaded the washer in a similar fashion as above, I had one of my favorite garments develop a nasty scuff mark and a tear: that certainly taught me a lesson. Bye now.

 

[passatdoc]

@3beltwesty

Thanks for the kind words. We stayed in quonset huts placed on concrete slabs on the ruins of Christ Episcopal Church in Bay St. Louis. Lutheran-Episcopal Services in Mississippi ran three camps on the coast: ours, a second one at a destroyed church site in Long Beach, and a third in Ocean Springs (at a Lutheran church which was not washed away). Our group wanted to return but the camps were closed last fall. Not sure if it was lack of money, lack of jobs to do, or lack of volunteers.

As we came from California, we had to fly to Gulfport and rent minivans from there. We had to bring our own bedding (sleeping bag, sheets, pillow, towels, etc.) which meant most folks packed two duffels, one with bedding and one for clothes. The camps had hot showers but no laundry facilities, so we had to bring a week's worth of heavy work clothes too. Some groups who came to the camp were within driving distance, but many groups flew in. When the airlines began charging for checked baggage, I knew that was going to hurt the camps in MS because it would cost $50 each way to check two bags, hence raising the cost of the trip by $100, on top of airfare, for each participant. We actually discussed the possibility of raising funds to buy them laundry machines so that people could come with just one bag (to save charges---at first, they only charged for the second bag) and wash clothes at camp as they went along.

http://www.futuresforfamilies.org/FuturesforfamiliesFrontpage.html

 

[cfz2882]

my work clothes get really dirty,so i am mostly interested in the best wash
performance and therefore usually run my f/l 24"splendide or maytag neptune
with the drums about 1/2 full or slightly above for best tumbling action.
BTW the 24"splendide combomatic-bought brand new,damaged in a shipping
accident and fixed up,is usually found in campers,boats,and RVs in the US.

 

[gelaundry4ever]

My washing habits

I always sort according to color lights, whites, and darks. When I go to the laundromat, they all go into separate washers and dryers. I want things done the proper way, not lazily stuffed in. That is my biggest pet peeves when it comes to laundry.

 

[bewitched]

My Aeg Lavamat Clara is usually fully stuffed but it manages to get very good results. This is a load of whites and the cycle is the longer available with prewash at 80 degrees celsius. The detergent used is the Miele ultrawhite powder.

 

[ryner1988]

Apparently this thread has been revived, so...

I'll chime in.

I own a standard TL. For me, a full load is one that is loaded loosely to the top row of holes in the washer tub, but not packed in. I do load to capacity, but if I feel like I'll struggle to get any more in, that means it's time to stop.

This is also why I stopped the practice of starting the machine to fill first before adding clothes. This is a life-long habit that was really hard to break, but I found it was a bit deceptive in regards to how much could actually fit because the clothes get wet and packed down. A loose pile of dry clothes is a much more accurate representation of how much the washer can handle. I now put detergent in first, then add clothes, and start washer last.

 

[chachp]

 

<span style="font-family: 'American Typewriter', serif;">My approach is more like that in Reply #79.  I have hanging hampers on the wall in my laundry room.  When one is full, I do a load.  One of these full fills my washer to about ¾ full in my Miele W1 washer.</span>

<span style="font-family: 'American Typewriter', serif;"> </span>

<span style="font-family: 'American Typewriter', serif;">Each load gets about 20ML of detergent.  Either Miele Ultraphase or liquid products from a place I really like.  That’s a good amount of detergent for our soft water.</span>

<span style="font-family: 'American Typewriter', serif;"> </span>

<span style="font-family: 'American Typewriter', serif;">This seems to be a good mix for the two of us that don’t generate a huge amount of laundry and the fact that with mechanically softened water I have to be careful how much detergent I use.</span>

 

[mark_wpduet]

Wow I love that spacious pretty laundry room... what's in those bottles on the shelf?

 

[chachp]

Thank you Mark.

 

<span style="font-family: helvetica;">Those are laundry products.  I use different formulations for each type of clothing.  Yeah I'm a little psycho when it comes to laundry (and the kitchen ).  The rest of the house can crumble around me.  LOL.</span> 

 

[qsd-dan]

I'm guessing the "Casual" bin is warm wash?

I wash towels and whites together but they're done at 160F with oxy bleach and a 3 hour soak period so there's no worry about cross contamination.

 

[chachp]

Casual is basically All Other:

 

<span style="font-family: helvetica;">When I was making the labels I didn't know what to make the fourth one.  For whatever reason "All Other" didn't come to mind so I took it from my Pinterest inspiration room which labeled the fourth as Casual.  For us that is anything that doesn't go in the other three or something that needs special handling like pre treating, hang dry, those kinds of things.  Putting them in that bin reminds me I need to do something else with those things.</span>

 

<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica;">I do white T-Shirts and Underwear with a one hour soak and the Extra White cycle which is 140. I add an extra rinse.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Colors I do the Baby Clothes cycle which is 140 and I add an extra rinse.  Someone here turned me on to the Baby Clothes cycle and it is amazing.  Everything comes out so soft with no Fabric Softener.  Not sure what it does but there is a real difference.  If they are really dirty I will set the soil level to Heavy and add a soak for an hour or so.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Towels - Colored towels I do on the towels cycle with an extra rinse.  Can't remember what temp that is.  It's running right now so I can't check.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Wash cloths, dish towels, rags, etc. all get done on the Sanitary cycle which is think is 167 on this machine.  And of course, an extra rinse.  I'm hoping the once a week Sanitary keeps the innards nice and clean.  The washer has never prompted me to run a cleaning cycle but I do run one every few months anyway.  </span></li>
</ul>
 

 

 

[qsd-dan]

You wash colors at 140F?

 

[chachp]

 

<span style="font-family: helvetica;">Yes.  I do very few things in Cool water. </span>

 

[jerrod_six]

I also use the baby clothes cycle for many of my loads but usually run it at 120F, although I have done a few in load with that cycle at 140F, which worked very well. I am curious about your dosing of Ultraphase at 20ml with soft water. Is that 20ml a combination of ultraphase 1 and ultraphase 2 or is that just the dose for ultraphase 1?

 

[gelaundry4ever]

my wash habits

I wash everything on the normal cottons cycle with the temperatures being the only variable depending on what I'm washing. Hot for whites, warm for lights, and cold for darks. All of my clothes, if not most of them, are sturdy cottons.

 

[chachp]

Jerrod

 

<span style="font-family: helvetica;">I just looked at the settings and it looks like I have them both set at 15ML.  I guess the machine determines which one gets dispensed and when.  I get really good results with these settings.  </span>

 

<span style="font-family: helvetica;">As I read some of these posts it sounds like some are surprised that I wash my colors at 140F.  I'm curious to know why.  They come out really well and I don't notice any fading.  I've been doing them that way because the first time I used the Baby Clothes cycle it was set at 140F and I can still remember how soft the clothes felt when they came out with no fabric softener.  I guess there is no reason why I couldn't set it at 120F I just never have.</span>

 

[jerrod_six]

Ralph

If you have been using 140F and that works for you I would go for it. I used 120F for most loads on my previous Miele machine so continue to use that on the W1. I do use lower temps for gym clothes, poly items, and good dark clothes but only as low as 85F. The only temp you get to use with Extra white is 140F but I have also used it with colors just by selecting "color" under Twin Dos. The machine doesn't care, it uses the temperature but dispenses as if it is for colors.

 

[DADoES]

 
AquaSmart sheets load yesterday ... queen fitted, queen flat, seven pillow cases, six shirts, and a microfiber throw.  3 tbsp STPP, 3 tbsp borax, 2 oz. Persil ProClean 2in1.

 

[johnbee]

My Miele W3035

This is the full load per Miele tech in Europe.
“Load the drum and make sure you have enough space for a palm of your hand once you push the clothes down”

This is what 4 different Miele techs told my grandma , Mom, sister and me when we all got our washers.

Here’s a video of my Miele with a quite lard load of towels and sheets

 

[DADoES]

 
Darks/casuals last week:  8 cargo shorts, 1 bath towel, 2 hand towels, 1 pr socks, 10 underwear/briefs, 3 boxers, 3 shirts.

 

[ryner1988]

Regular load of clothes this morning

This is in a 3.2 CU FT Whirlpool direct drive washer set on the highest water level.

Two pairs of leggings (the thicker type that are more like pants, not the sheer panty hose type)

Two pairs of fuzzy fleecy pajama pants

One night gown

Two tank tops

Two pairs of track/athletic pants

One pair of men's blue jeans

Eight regular shirts

Six pairs of socks

Eight pairs of underwear

One zip-up hooded sweatshirt