washing sheets in top load washer

[cphifer5115]

Hey guys is there any way to wash king size bed sheets in a top load washer with out there being air bubbles cought in the sheets? I have a kenmore belt drive washer and every time i was the sheets they never seem to roll over good in it and always get tied up in such knotts.

 

[launderess]

Welcome To My World!

*LOL*

Have found with my BD Whirlpool, the best way is to simply drop sheets into the tub (a la Frigidare "Jet Action" zones), and let the agitation do it's thing. Wrapping items round in the tub,or worse around the agitator causes air bubbles to form soon as the wash action starts.

Just my two cents!

 

[cphifer5115]

well i have tried that too and it just seem to always get air bubbles in the sheets. now funny thing, i used to have a older maytag center dial machine and i could wrap the sheet around the agitator and never had that problem. I also use to have a direct drive machine (maytag but built by whirlpool) and it never had the air bubble problem.

 

[jeffg]

Throw in a few heavy bath towels with the load. Their thickness and weight make quick work out of air bubbles in the sheets. Also make sure your water level is right for the load size.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Okay, If you hold one end of the sheet up and lower the other end into one side of the tub, letting if fall into folds, it should behave properly. You put the flat sheet on one side of the tub, the fitted sheet on the other side exactly the same way and the pillow cases between them on opposite sides, OPEN ENDS UP.

Where your air bubbles come from is the pressurized fill for the rinse which pushes all kinds of air into the water, some of which is trapped by the sheets. I remember that from my mom's two Kenmores in the 50s. Even today when I see large butt cheeks straining fabric with each step, I think of the sheets with trapped air being tugged back and forth by a Roto Swirl. If they are loaded carefully, their ability to release the air once agitation starts should be improved, but with that fill system in a BD, you might still have trouble with air pockets in the rinse. Above all, don't wrap the sheets around the agitator. The horizontal folds that are formed do not give a vertical escape route for the trapped air and up is the only direction the air wants to go.

 

[alr2903]

The users guide that came with my mothers "pentavane Kenmore", rec. folding or bunching the sheet to resemble the letter "N" and dropping the sheet straight down, into the machine. alr2903

 

[launderess]

Thankfully One Has The Miele

Which is where most sheets end up. Cannot deal with the palaver of using a top loader. *LOL

 

[tolivac]

Sheets are no problem in my BD KN Dual Action washer-just dump them in with other things.If any air bubbles do form the auger action presses them out.

 

[kenmoreguy64]

Chris -

Certain agitators tend to contribute to this. The Roto-Swirl is a bad offender in that department. I think it's the reverse side of the ramp that tends to lift sheets up and gather air. We had that problem with ours all the time with sheets.

Using a DA is better, and heavier sheets seem to help too (my flannels in the winter don't do that), but the secret is to layering the sheets as the folks say above. I used to worm them around the tub in a cirle. Now, I layer them each in 1/2 of the tub, and they do fine.

Gordon

 

[cphifer5115]

ok thanks guys i will try that. i am also gonna try adding a couple of heavy bath towels with them and see what happens.

 

[yogitunes]

Most times the air is from under the agitator, as the machines fills, an air pocket is formed under the agitator, once agitation starts, a lot of this air is released under the load of clothes, normally thru most loads it will bypass around the clothes and up to the top, sheets act like a hot air ballon and trap the air and they bellow above the water....no to mention once agitation starts your water level will drop about an inch

2 things can be done to prevent, as the machines get near 3/4 way filled with water, oscillate the agitator by hand to remove the air.....or....drill one or two small holes in the base and shaft of your agitator, depending on which one you have, which will not let the air bubble to form......the only machine this does not work for me is the SQ solid tub with the aireated fill during the rinse, bubbled stream of water plunging under the clothes and rising underneath the sheets, almost makes them lift the lid....

 

[whirlcool]

We had this problem with our WP DD machine too with Queen sized sheets. The sheets would be all twisted together.

I found that too high a water level contributes to this problem. I lowered the water level one light and things got better immediately.

I also load sheets folded in half top to bottom. One at the 7 o'clock position and one at the 3 o'clock position. This too helps with the problem.

 

[laundromat]

I have used all different types of top loaders and the only ones that did great in keeping the air pockets down were:

1 Maytag Helical and Dependable care models
2 Frigidaire up and down agitator models
3 Norge
4 Kelvinator
5 Philco

All the others except for the "Cruel Action" W'pools had difficulty in keeping the sheets rolling and,in those models,I had to feed the sheets in to keep them from billowing. Even so,they'd still bubble up in the final deep rinse anyway.i still prefer the front loaders and have chosen a nice new Frigidaire Affinity set to ad to my "family"

 

[tolivac]

WP Surgilators tend to whip air into the wash-rinse cycles-and could cause the billowing.I have seen this with my WP imperial 90 (BD) that has a surgilator agitator.Esp when the machine goes to the rinse cycle-the agitator whips even more air into the mixture.Use my KN BD Dual action on sheets or other large items.Whats so weird about the surgilator is that it inflates pants pockets when in the rinse cycle-you see pant pockets full of air bobbing around-kinda funny.