What's Considered Full Load For Your Machine?

[mrsalvo]

Hey Everyone:
I'm asking everyone (vintage and new machine owners alike) what you consider a full load of clothes might be in your machine that you feel comfortable loading, but not overloading, and get optimal results. I realize there are different makes and models of machines, detergents, water hardness, etc. that would contribute to our decisions. If you would please mention your machine, and what you would wash and your favorite detergent. I'm just very curious.
And even though I'm still on a slight learning curve after purchasing a new Speed Queen I'll start:

2015 TL Speed Queen
2 full size sheets, 1 queen size sheet, 6 pillow case covers, 6 pillow cases, & 2 sets of pajamas.
Very hard water. Use Persil Power Pearls (or Fab powder...duck, run for cover LOL).

(I could throw another sheet in there, but I'd reset the water switch to add more water for better rinsing.)

 

[mr_b]

For a Front Load Washer.....

In the laundry business it is widely accepted that 1 cubic foot of cylinder volume equals approximately 6.5 pounds of soiled laundry. If all of the clothes items had the same volume to weighed ratio, you could just weigh every load with a scale and fill the washer to its proper capacity. But, as we all know, the volume of a comforter is not equal to that of a load of towels weighing the same. To explain how much laundry equals a properly loaded front load washer, the action of the washer needs to be examined. With the absence of an agitator, the front-load washer relies on picking up the load, with ribs inside the cylinder, and dropping it. This causes the water and soap to penetrate the clothes and remove the soil. Overloading the cylinder decreases the amount of drop and greatly reduces the washer’s effectiveness in getting items clean. Thus weight of clothes, assuming the washer weight load capacity is sufficient, is less important than their volume. Bulky items that absorb little water will have less mechanical action than smaller items that hold lots of liquid when loaded strictly by weight.

Unfortunately many of the large capacity home washers, greater than 3.5 cubic feet, are not built to handle the weight of the cloths that can be fully loaded in them by their volume especially during the spin cycle. These manufactures only list the washer’s volume capacity and do not include their weight capacity. They do this because most loads rarely exceed 15 pounds but many people do want to wash a large comforter without needed to go to the laundry and thus the reason for this dichotomy.

Depending on the type of clothes being washed a front load washer may be fully loaded meaning every square inch of the drum can be filled with loosely packed clothes if it is designed to handle the fully loaded weight. If you stuff clothes in too tight the load will simply get wet and go around in circles with no agitating action. After full load is saturated with water the wet clothes should compress down to occupy 60-70% of the drum volume leaving enough room for good agitation to take place. During the wash cycle do a visual observation of the wash tumbling and when the cylinder is rotating clockwise, the clothes should fall from about 11 o’clock to the 4 o’clock position. This provides the necessary mechanical action for soil removal and will indicate that you did not overfill your washer. If the clothes are not tumbling in this manner then for the next load add less clothes. It is that simple. Keep in mind that clothes at the center of the load will not fall in this manner but during the wash cycle all clothes will rotate from the center of the load to the outside numerous times allowing all the clothes to experience the outer tumbling action. Finally if your machine cannot handle the weight of your load, even though the drum is not full, you need to reduce the number of heavy items to determine what will wash properly and use this to set your maximum load by weight.

 

[DADoES]

BobLoading® Laundry

 
Two sets of queen-size sheets run nicely in my F&P toploader -- two fitted, two flat, six pillow cases.  Six to seven pairs of jeans.

Same for the Calypso.  I routinely run very large loads of mixed towels/cottons in the Calypso, considerably larger than I've seen in various videos of toploaders on here and YouTube.

I've run 22 to 24 shirts in my Neptune TL, although the load didn't roll over very well not because of the size but because of the load characteristics (all items of the same size and fabric weight).  A cotton/synthetic quilted bedspread and set of twin sheets comprised a reasonable bulky load.

I once ran ten pairs of jeans in my F&P GWL08 just to see if it could handle the load, which it did.

 

[mark_wpduet]

I have never weighed laundry or counted items

For my front load washer, I usually fill up about 80 percent of dry clothes and when wet it ends up being about 50 percent (maybe 40 percent) full with plenty of room to tumble. I have never packed dry laundry in but I once packed King comforter in and it could not move at all. It was really hard to watch and it was one of those thick king comforters.....So I just use bedspreads now

 

[retro-man]

I remember the video cassette lol that came with my new Neptune front loader. It showed to fill the drum completely and then push a little more onto the top. I ran many a load this way and had no problems with washing rinsing and spinning. Now the Duets that I have seem to have a much larger drum and I only fill it up to about 2/3 of the way. Both are capable to do king size comforters quite nicely.

Jon

 

[lakewebsterkid]

Load size

My Duet WFW9750 can hold my full sized sheet set, a queen size sheet set, and two twin sized sheet sets with ease and does a fantastic job. The dryer, however, is a different situation.

 

[jerrod6]

I can fill my Fl washer to the very top and get a good clean, so for me a full load is dry clothes all the way to the top of the drum.

 

[revvinkevin]

 

 

Last weeks laundry consisted of .....

 

One load = 17 pairs of shorts (regular, not boxers), 2 kitchen towels and a t-shirt.  This all in a 4.0 cu ft Kenmore Elite He5t FL washer.   Yes it was a big load, but didn't seem to be a problem for this machine.   I did split this into two loads for the dryers, as it looked to have been too much for the Cabrio dryer.... if I didn't want everything wrinkled.

 

Another load = 16 button front, short sleeve cotton shirts, a mix of work shirts and Hawaiian shirts in the 10 year old LG FL washer.   The Maytag 9900 dryer readily handled this load with no problem.

 

I also washed a load of sheets, as well as whites, but those were more "normal" size loads.

 

=     =     =     =     =     =     <span style="font-size: 12pt;">=     =     =     =     =     =  </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span>

 

Back in Feb I was able to use (play with) a new LG 3570 FL (4.3 cu ft) washer.   In that load I put 5 King size sheets, 5 King size and 2 Queen size pillow cases.   Again a big load, but handled it no problem!  Drying was another story however, we ended up splitting the load in half.  (thread link below)

 

Kevin

[this post was last edited: 7/30/2015-16:35]

I had a chance to use an LG 3570 washer w/Turbo Wash today!

My friend Rich (Golittlesport) sent a text yesterday saying "Something new at our house!" with this photo. During the conversation he suggested perhaps I could come over and do some laundry. So I drove over this morning armed with my laundry basket! Rich had mentioned the washer was...

www.automaticwasher.org

 

[mark_wpduet]

That's the truth

about the dryer. It sort of dictates how big of load I wash. The dryer can't handle what the washer can!

 

[askolover]

top of the drum

with just enough room for my hand to move on top of the clothes.  When they are wet it's all perfect.

 

[launderess]

How the pros do things:

Pipe:



And this is how you wash duvets and pillows:

 

[washman]

Here's some cotton overload

http://https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7EsAlUs6LM&list=PLVpngWITH6pJo28Wg06CYC0UuAvdCTSC9&index=5

 

[frigilux]

Here's a full, but not-quite-a-BobLoad load of bath linens. These are my summer towels, a bit smaller and not as heavy as the winter towels. Anyway, here we go:

9 bath towels (47" x 30"; 1 lb. 5 ozs. each)
13 hand towels (27" x 15"; 5.5 ozs. each)
9 wash cloths (12" x 11.5"; 2 ozs. each)

Cycle: Normal, heavy soil option
Detergent: Tide Turbo Pod

Photo 1: The load.

Photo 2: The tub is definitely full, but not overstuffed.

Photo 3: Controls

Photo 4: End of 2nd (of two) rinses.

I'm glad this washer has recirulation sprays during the wash and rinses. I can see how a pod might not dissolve well in this large a load---not to mention how long it would take to saturate the load---without them.

 

[frigilux]

Ben--- The SQ isn't even breaking a sweat! The new machines turn over large loads very well. You have more color in your world; all my stuff is white, LOL.

 

[washman]

I like color

 

[matthewza]

LG 7kg FL

I can get 10 pairs of my size 32 means into my 7kg LG DD FL and the drum is very full right to the top. That gets washed on the Bulky cycle with 1200 rpm final spin and because of the high wash and rinse level, everything comes out clean and we'll rinsed (3 rinses default on this cycle) and the DD motor is more than capable of spinning that load at 1200rpm.
I have also got 4 bath sheets, 7 hand towels and 2 face clothes in 1 load washed on synthetic (because of the high wash and rinse levels) and once the load was wet you could see the top of the drum. Likewise for my jeans load. It also easily handles my queen size comforter. When I wash that I do the sheet and pillow cases with the towels though.
I generally fill the drum right to the top because once the load is wet it does pack down a bit, but most of my loads only fill the drum 3 quarters just because I live alone.

 

[henene4]

I know I could do our bedding for four in 1 load, even with our small machines now (for the US folks: Less then 2 cuft). But I usually don't. Not because of results,, more because if color seperation and creasing and the fact that our dryer handels 2 at a time best.

That being said, next wednesday, I'll have a trip to the laundromat to do a matress cover and my parents thick and heavy woolen comforters. I was abled to do them in the Panasonic, but with the smaller drums now, that is literally impossible.

 

[mrsalvo]

Have enjoyed everyone's responses. Even learned that 1 cubic foot is 6.5 lbs of dirty laundry in a commercial setting, thank-you mr_b, even though I thought that guy in the video posted by Laundress would never stop loading that machine.....I can not imagine!!!!! It's interesting what we feel comfortable in the amount of poundage. As for me, like I said, I don't want to over work my new machine as I want it to last many, many years, but I'll admit my loads seem puny compared to most here. Very interesting also about the dryer loads in considering how much to wash in one load. When I used a dryer, wrinkles were a plague if stuffed. I use a dryer maybe 1 load in 7 now, but I like the feel and smell of line dried clothes, not to mention a lower utility bill!
Thank-you all for your replies!!
PS: I did wash a queen size mattress cover plus 2 towels and the SQ handled it beautifully. I do think though that mattress covers and comforters clean best in a front load, as they look and feel better afterwards. Just my humble opinion.

 

[launderess]

Thing about commercial machines shown above

Is they are built to last with commercial quality parts and most importantly their suspension systems basically rely upon being bolted into several feet of concrete.

Watched that woman load duvet and pillow after each other until one was sure she would be using her foot to get the door shut. But the load did compact down (eventually) and the results seemed pretty good. I would NEVER do that with any domestic washing machine even a Miele.