Using the washing machine

• Am I overloading my washing machine?
• How do I avoid out of balanced loads in my washing machine?
• Laundry (Washing) is still dirty or has marks on it (marks on clothes)

 

Am I overloading my washing machine?

If you overload a washing machine it can cause physical problems, but it will also affect the efficiency of the wash. An overfilled washing machine can result in the laundry moving round in one large mass. The clothes will not agitate against each other properly and the washing machine detergent won't be able to circulate properly. The washing will not be washed properly. ( Potential serious consequences? - Baby badly burned by washing machine detergent - article on my Blog )

However, you do need to fill the drum in order to get the most economical use from your machine and to prevent under-loading. Under-loading the machine causes problems by making the weight of clothes more likely to accumulate on one side of the drum. This can make the load out of balance and cause violent banging on spin. (See next section below for further details)

How much washing should I put in the washing machine?

Fill the drum for economy, but pat the clothes down lightly and make sure you can feel a reasonable space between the top of the clothes and the top of the drum. Bear in mind that the drum may look really full, but once water comes in and the drum turns, many items will shrink in bulk. Leave a gap of approximately 3 or 4 inches between the top of the laundry and the top of the drum (roughly a hand's width).

The advice above however is assuming you are washing laundry that can be washed in big loads (usually cottons). Washing machine instruction manuals usually state that most other fabrics shouldn't be full loads. Here's a recent blog entry of mine which mentions this and gives examples of some maximum loadings for various fabrics - Laundry comes out of washing machine badly creased?

Under loading the washing machine

Under loading the washing machine can also cause problems. In the old days it could cause violent out of balanced loads causing damage to the washing machines it is likely to simply refuse to spin. If you have issues with some loads reaching the end of the cycle and simply not going into fast spin one possible cause could be if you have under loaded it or are trying to spin just one item. For a full explanation of the out of balance protection systems used by modern washing machines check out my Blog article - Washing machine won’t spin just one item or very small loads

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How do I avoid out of balanced loads in my washing machine?

Most modern washing machines now electronically monitor the motor during the slow distribution section leading up to the spin. If the load is out of balance, the motor shouldn't be allowed to spin. Typically, a modern washing machine will attempt to balance the load a certain amount of times, or for a certain passage of time, but if it can't, it will either reach the end of the program without spinning, or it will abort spin and turn off. (both scenarios leaving the clothes wet through) Some washing machines may allow a slow spin if the clothes are reasonably balanced, but then unless they settle down, it will not allow a higher spin thus leaving the clothes spun, but much wetter than normal.

Some washing machines will indicate a failed spin due to being unable to balance the wash load so check your instruction book to see if your washing machine has this function and what happens if a spin is aborted. Unfortunately some washing machines do not adequately inform the user that it failed to balance the wash load and aborted spin. As an engineer, I have been called out many times because a load was washed but not spun, but there was no fault on the washing machine, just an aborted unbalanced load.

The best way to avoid unbalanced loads in a washing machine

Make sure you fill the drum well and try not to mix items that get very heavy when wet with items that hardly increase in weight at all - especially if there are just one or two heavy items and the rest are light. Heavy bath mats should ideally be washed with other items or they may gather on one side of the drum. I've seen heavy bath mats do a fair bit of damage to a washing machine. However, some people (understandably) don't want to mix the bath mats in with normal washing. If this is the case and you do get problems with the bath mats getting out of balance I suggest you use old towels or sheets to even the load up.

In a washing machine, if you put just a few large towels or a sheet in amongst some very light fabrics, the heavy items could bunch to one side of the drum and the lighter ones won't be able to counter-balance their weight effectively. There should be enough items to fit all around the drum. If there only is enough to fill most of the drum, but a section is empty, then it can get out of balance on spin. If the items are all light, then this may not cause a problem. However, if some items are heavy, they may cause violent banging, or the washing machine out of balance detection may just refuse to allow a spin.

Sometimes you can get an unbalanced load by sheer chance, with loads you have successfully washed many times before. The occasional bad load is inevitable but constant bad loads and violent banging on spin may be caused by a fault on the washing machine. [ Related: Washing machine wont spin | Washing machine won’t spin just one item or very small loads ]

Extra large drums

These days you can buy washing machines with much bigger drums. The average drum size is now 6Kg but you can buy washing machines with 7Kg 8Kg and even 10Kg drums. It's possible that these washing machines could be more prone to refusing to spin some small loads because they need even more items to fill the drum. For example, my 7Kg washing machine will not spin 3 large towels. Last week my wife was extremely frustrated with our 7Kg drum washing machine as she had just washed our son's hoody-top and wanted to spin it in the washer. It simply would not spin, so I advised her that it needed something to balance it out. She put in a couple of towels but still no spin. Eventually 5 towels were needed to balance out the absorbent top and allow a spin. This is a minor inconvenience compared to the benefit of being able to fit more washing in (even our king sized quilt) but it highlights how if you have a very large drum it could be more prone to not spinning small loads [ Washing machine won’t spin just one item or very small loads ].

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Laundry (washing) isn't coming out clean (still dirty) or has marks on it (marks on clothes)

It can be possible for collapsed drum bearings, or a cracked or broken drum shaft, to allow the inner drum to scrape on the inside of the outer tub causing greasy marks on clothes, but this is rare, and should also generate excess noise. If there is no other obvious fault, such as the drum not turning, and the washing machine goes through the wash cycle as normal, and spins the clothes dry at the end, then the problem may not be caused by a fault on the washing machine.

Common causes of poor wash results are -

• Using poor quality detergent or letting it get damp
• Using an inappropriate program
• Using economy buttons inappropriately
• Overloading can cause poor wash results
• Not using enough detergent - especially in hard water areas
• Using non-biological powder on low temperatures for heavy stains
• Using washing machine detergent with no bleach in it (colour friendly) on whites
• Using half load button on fuller loads preventing proper rinsing
• Partial blockage in pumping system preventing water being pumped out properly causing poor rinsing (Washing machine won't empty water )
• Drive belt come off, or other fault causing drum to not revolve ( Drum not turning )

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