Filling washer with heavy wet clothes?

[kee]

Hello. I don't know if you're an expert on washing as well as machine repair, but I guess like a lot (most?) people the only thing I do with my washing is sort colours (black, dark colours, pale colours, whites, or bedding or towels. Never quite sure what to do with white clothes with patterns on 😂 I fill up the drawer with powder (hard water area) and second with conditioner except for towels or whites (they advise white vinegar).  l do everything apart from bedding and towels on 40 for synthetics, taking the worst wet off the wettest clothes by drying them in a half full machine for about 40 minutes, whilst hanging the rest round the flat making it look like a refugee camp. I don't know if this is a good plan? 😂

Anyway, I've got enough whites for a full load, and inevitably they're looking a bit dingy and grey, especially the bras 😳 Apparently the advice is to presoak overnight, I did it with oxymax, attacked any stains with soap, and before washing with stain removing spray and put a bag of glowhite in as well. 

Now, you do this and inevitably it's incredibly heavy even if you try and wring out the worst. Is there any problem with this? Damaging the machine, affecting the wash? I never use the pre-wash, does that have the same affect? Should you use it as well as the pre-soak, or is that excessive, (they are very dingy). Maybe a colour catch sheet? (Do they actually work?)

Maybe you should do a pinned washing advice piece? 😂

 

 

 

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

Hi Kee. To keep whites, white, you could try pre-soaking as long as the detergent you use for it contains bleaching agents. The main problem with whites losing their whiteness is lack of bleach. Any laundry detergent that is kind to coloureds, or suitable for coloureds does not contain any bleaching agent. Bleaching agent will drain colours. So essentially you need to totally separate types of detergent for coloureds, and whites.

Have a look at my articles here which may hopefully help -

Why do my whites looked grey?

Using more than one type of detergent for best results

[andyr12345]

according to the AEG washing machine blurb under-dosing detergent causes them to go grey as well 

[kee]

Thanks both. It's funny because you more often read don't put too much powder in these days as then you'll get stiffness, residue etc. I normally just fill the drawer,can that ever be too much for a Full load?  Does that flap matter? It seems to fall down anyway. Another thing I've noticed about my machine Is the powder drawer always fully  empties,the conditioner drawer never does. Why is that?

I was more asking about the heaviness. If you put clothes in that are  heavy with cold water from presoaking, can that affect the wash, or can you still near fill the machine at the usual temp? 

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

Hello Kee. I think our points were that you should not need to do a pre-wash, and therefore the point about putting heavy wet laundry inside the washing machine should be irrelevant 🙂

These days you should not need to pre-soak anything but if you do, it wouldn't make any difference. The washing machine would just get on with the job regardless. The only issue to worry about is if you are pre-soaking just small loads, especially if any of the items are heavy, because you could end up under loading the washing machine. That could cause it to either refuse to spin at the end, or spin, but maybe at a lower speed and bounce around a bit.

 

[andyr12345]

16 hours ago, kee said:

I was more asking about the heaviness. If you put clothes in that are  heavy with cold water from presoaking, can that affect the wash, or can you still near fill the machine at the usual temp? 

if you have one of these washing machines these days that 'weigh' the clothes at the start of the wash cycle (and there are loads of them on the market these  days) , they load the washing to work out how much detergent to use and how much water to use and in most cases adjust the time of the cycle to adjust to the weight in the drum . If you were to put sopping wet clothes into the drum and start the cycle this could greatly affect the cycle because in the normal scheme of things the washing in the drum is 'weighed' dry and not wet.

 However, i would have thought sopping wet clothes would be 'fooling' the washing machine in its weigh mode and be telling the machine that the items inside the drum are actually heavier than they are (because of the extra weight because the clothes are wet) and then have an effect of adding more detergent and water needed for the wash than needed and actually  increasing the dose of detergent and water and (possibly rinse numbers) and consequently adjust the time longer thinking that there is more in the drum to wash than there actually is. - thats what I would have thought.

 

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

1 minute ago, andyr12345 said:

 However, i would have thought sopping wet clothes would be 'fooling' the washing machine in its weigh mode and be telling the machine that the items inside the drum are actually heavier than they are (because of the extra weight because the clothes are wet)

As usual, you make an interesting point, Andy. This would depend on exactly how and when such a washing machine (which I think is not that common yet) actually weighs the laundry. My assumption is that it weighs it by measuring the resistance the motor has to overcome in order to turn the drum. So if it does this before any water is added to the washing machine then yes you are right, this would trick the washing machine.

If it does it whilst just monitoring the resistance needed once the water has been added, and it starts to turn the drum for the wash cycle, then it wouldn't make any difference. Do you have such a washing machine, Andy, does it turn the drum several times before it even adds any water?

 

[andyr12345]

43 minutes ago, Whitegoodshelp (Andy) said:

Do you have such a washing machine, Andy, does it turn the drum several times before it even adds any water?

 

yes Andy I have one of the Samsung washing machines that weight the washing in the drum at the start of the wash cycle (weighs them dry) on nearly all the washes (noticed on a couple of quick washes though it does not weigh them and just starts the cycle immediately, on them washes even though its a 9kg washer it says 3kg max) - so on most wash cycles it adjusts the time (normally down a bit) if there is less than a full 9kg. - say if its a cotton 40'c wash 2 rinses and 1200rpm and intense setting, well when I put to dial to that wash it would say for example 1hr 30minutes on the display well when I press start it weighs the washing in the drum for about 10 second (dry, before any water even even enters the drum) and if its not a full 9kg of washing in the drum the display you will see the time change in the LED panel from 1hr 30 to lets say for example 1hr 15mins, so its chopped off a bit of time because its not a full load, then water enters the drum and you hear whirring of the autodose mechanism as it adds detergent accordingly and a message briefly in the LED display "ADDING DETERGENT" then washes. 

I dont really know what happens (if it weighs by motion of the drum) if the garments (and they do sometimes)  brush past that little rubber lip on the grey rubber door seal that is supposed to push the washing back into the drum , so if washing brushes past that, does that then change to motion of the drum and accordingly the 'weighing' of the clothes I really dont know.

 

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

Hi Andy. I would expect that it measures how much force is needed to turn the drum from a standstill. It probably does this several times. I wouldn't expect any laundry brushing past that little rubber lip causing much of an issue.