On most washing machines , the maximum load in kg is indicated directly on the body, such as the Whirlpool TDLR 65230 or Samsung WW60A3100BE / UA. But if there is no such designation, like Bosch WAN 2427G, then this information is available on the official website of the manufacturer or in the instructions (user manual). These figures should be taken into account both when choosing a device and during operation.

How many things can fit in modern washing machines?

The load capacity of modern automatic washing machines varies in the range from 4 to 12 kg, if we are talking about household models. Semi-industrial and industrial solutions designed for use in laundries or for other commercial applications can fit 15 – 20 kg of laundry.

Usually load capacity up to 4 kg is typical for compact automatic washing machines. They have a height of less than 80 cm (placed under the sink) and are suitable for single people or families of two. And household washing machines for 12 kg are an excellent choice for large households. They can have two drums at once, which allows user to simultaneously wash colored and white items or cotton and wool. But the price tag and the overall dimensions of such devices are also not small.

Load capacity in kg for washing machines – is it the amount of dry or wet laundry?

The allowable weight for putting in the drum of the washing machine is the weight of dry laundry. This is what users usually add. During the operation of the device, things will be saturated with water, become heavier, and some types of fabrics will also greatly increase in volume. Therefore, for different textiles, the allowable load capacity is different, which we will talk about later.

Since wet laundry weighs significantly more than dry laundry (sometimes several times), even a small overload of 300-400 grams during the washing cycle turns into one and a half to two kilograms. And this is a really serious additional load on the working parts of the device.

Can I put wet clothes in the washing machine?

Yes, it is not necessary to load only dry things into the drum. So, an automatic wash can be started immediately after a manual soak or for a second cycle (for example, when dealing with stubborn dirt). Despite the fact that wet products weigh more than dry ones and will not change their mass much, it is still not worth exceeding the basic loading recommendations.

Wet laundry should not be left in the drum for a long time before or after the end of the cycle, so that a bad smell does not appear and mold does not form on the sealing collar of the hatch.

If you leave laundry in the washing machine for a long time, it will smell like dampness.

Does the maximum load capacity apply to all types of fabrics? How much cotton, synthetics, wool can be added for washing?

The value indicated on the device body and/or on the official website of the device manufacturer is the maximum weight for cotton products only. Usually, the user will have to add less of other types of textiles. Cotton items are among the most common and do not get as heavy when absorbing water, as silk, linen, terry fabric. By the way, even for colored cotton, the limit weight is usually less, because at the rinsing stage at the end of the cycle, such products need to be washed more thoroughly so that there are no stains or traces of detergents.

Therefore, before washing, it is recommended to sort things, and then add them, taking into account the allowable load capacity for certain types of textiles. Often, the basic requirements are specified in the instructions for different programs. So, if the model has a cycle for down items, then the maximum load for it will be noted in the user manual.

Too much silk cannot be washed at once if you do not want to ruin a delicate thing.

General loading recommendations for different types of fabric:

  • wool and silk – no more than ⅓ of the maximum load capacity or even less (about 25%). These are the most delicate materials, they need gentle care;
  • synthetics and mixed compositions – from half to ⅔ of the maximum;
  • terry products, bedspreads, blankets, other things that actively absorb water – up to ⅓ of the cotton load;
  • denim – from 40 to 50% of the maximum;
  • outerwear – about ⅓ of the maximum load.
Washing machines with a load capacity of more than 9 kg

Why is it not recommended to overload the washing machine?

If you add more laundry to the drum than the manufacturer recommends, this will negatively affect both the things themselves (the quality of dirt removal and their condition) and the life of the device. Overloading leads to the following negative consequences:

1. Wrong distribution of things in the drum. This can cause strong vibrations during spinning. From crucial faults modern models are protected by the unbalance control function. But the sensor does not eliminate the root cause of the violation of the laundry distribution, but can simply reduce the speed or completely turn off the spin. In this case, the user will need to manually move the contents of the drum or deal with completely wet products.

2. Motor overload. If the weight of the laundry is too high, the motor has to work at high speeds, it can get hotter, and its total working life will decrease.

3. Negative impact on the drum. Yes, it is unlikely to fail by itself, although occasionally there are calls to services with cracks and tank leaks. A large load on the drum in one way or another accelerates the wear of the bearings, can damage the shock absorbers or break the belt (the last breakage does not threaten only models with direct drive).

Overloading can cause the drum to crack, resulting in leaks.

4. Poor quality washing. Strongly "tamped" laundry will not be washed uniformly, individual items of clothing or parts of them will remain dirty.

5. Accelerated wear of things. Due to overloads, friction between individual fabrics, as well as textiles and drum walls, increases. As a result, fading accelerates, wear increases, clothes lose their original presentation faster.

Placing more laundry in the drum than is allowed by the instructions also increases the consumption of electricity and water.

Direct drive washing machines

What happens if there is too little laundry?

The other extreme, that is, a very small load (less than 1 - 1.5 kg) is also not recommended, unless it is a special operation cycle. During the spin cycle, a small amount of clothes will not be able to be evenly distributed over the drum, which will increase the likelihood of excessive vibrations and loads on the bearing block of the device. In addition, such an approach is often not justified from an efficiency point of view: the consumption of water and electricity will be the same as with a standard load.

Are there washing machines that weigh the laundry themselves?

Most modern washing machines have sensors that determine the amount of laundry in the drum. But it should be understood that they primarily serve to optimize the washing process – determining the duration of the cycle, reducing water and electricity consumption, selecting the best drum rotation mode at different operation stages, or implementing a “smart” dosage of detergents.

A visual demonstration of the weight on the display or a simple indicator that warns of an overloaded drum is a rarity. So, even in the Candy SmartPro CSO 1275 TBE/1-S model, which has a Kg Detector sensor, it is inactive before starting, and starts working at the beginning of the cycle (plus it is available only for two programs Cotton and Synthetics).

Washing machines with automatic dosing

How to determine the weight of the laundry loaded into the washing machine as accurately as possible?

Without errors, it is easiest to find out the weight of dirty things for washing with the help of domestic floor scales. You can do this in the following way:

  • take a basket, basin or other suitable container;
  • weigh the container (its weight must be subtracted from the final result);
  • add pre-sorted dirty things (say, cotton);
  • it is better not to gain the maximum load of 6, 7 or 8 kg, but to leave a small margin (about 500 grams).
The most accurate, albeit not the most convenient, way for determining the load is weighing.

Several similar weighing procedures for different types of fabrics will allow you to remember the total amount of laundry (in the same basin) or the filling level of the washing machine drum. After that, you can load without weighing .

What other ways to determine the load of the washing machine are there?

If you do not want or are not able to weigh the laundry, you can use other (less accurate) methods for estimating the load, namely:

1. Visually – by volume. The drum should not be filled with things completely, it is recommended to leave at least 30% of its space free, and for products (wool) that expand strongly from water – even more – from 50 to 70%. This will allow the laundry to move freely during rotation, fall down, etc.

2. By sound – empirically. If there are too many or, on the contrary, few things, then strong vibrations and an increase in noise level are possible during the spin cycle. If there are no such complaints, then, apparently, there is no overload or underload.

3. Assessing the quality of washing – also empirically. If after the cycle things are very wrinkled or remain dirty, then one of the reasons for this phenomenon is overload. However, other factors must be excluded, such as lack of detergents, poor quality powder or gel, too high spin speeds.

4. By weight of individual products. If you know how much your clothes and bedding sets weigh, you can roughly calculate the load and avoid overloading.

How much does a T-shirt weigh, and how much does a sheet weigh?

You can determine the weight of individual items by weighing: even kitchen scales are suitable for small items. In addition, there are special load calculators for washing, it is enough to indicate the number of specific items of clothing or bed linen in them.

Tables that indicate the approximate weight of dry textiles will also be useful. They give average values or a certain mass range. Usually, the lower limit corresponds to women's garments and/or things made of light fabrics, and the upper one corresponds to men's, heavier ones. In addition, serious deviations are inherent in different sizes of products: two identical sweaters of M and XL size can differ in weight by almost 2 times.

Textile product Approximate weight, grams
T-shirt 150 – 250
Shirt 200 – 300
Jeans 500 – 800
Sweater, sweatshirt 400 – 800
Shorts 200 – 300
Jacket (thin) 500 – 800
Jacket (warm) 1000 – 1500
Coat 1000 – 1500
Business suit 1500 – 2000
Tracksuit 600 – 1000
Dress 300 – 500
Skirt 200 – 300
Bed linen set (single) 1500 – 2000
Bed linen set (double) 2500 – 3000
Pillowcase 150 – 250
Blanket 1000 – 2000
Towel 200 – 600

Children's clothing and bedding tend to be noticeably lighter. Approximate values are shown in the table:

Textile product Approximate weight, grams
Body (0-3 months) 50 – 100
Newborn overalls 200 – 300
Beanie (0-3 months) 20 – 50
Booties (set) 50 – 100
Jacket 300 – 500
Bedding set for baby cot up to 1500
Panties 100 – 200
T-shirt 100 – 150
Dress 150 – 250
Overalls 300 – 700

It is unlikely that anyone will constantly use special calculators and weight tables. But if you apply them several times, then later it is easy to more or less accurately determine the optimal load without weighing – by the fullness of the drum.

Why do washing and drying machines have different washing and drying loads?

Among the washing machines today there are more and more models with a dryer function. An important feature of such devices is the differences in the maximum load for washing and drying. Conventionally, in a drum in which you can wash 8 kg of laundry, about 4 kg will be able to get rid of residual water. This is due to the different principles of the processes being performed. Usually, in order to dry textiles effectively, they need to be given more free space for normal air circulation.

In any case, the load recommendations for drying should not be violated either, because the laundry will be wetter and more wrinkled, and even worse, the risks of equipment malfunction will increase.

Washing machines with dryers

How to determine the weight of the washed laundry when loading into the dryer?

First of all, you need to understand that all of the above information applies to both dryers and washing mashines with dryers. If you want the device to perform its functions for a long time and with high quality, follow the manufacturer's requirements for the amount of laundry in the drum.

How to determine the load weight for drying? It all depends on what device you have. If you are using a separate dryer, it is best to have the same capacity as your washing mashing. In this case, everything that was washed in a cycle can simply be moved to dry. Additional weighing or sorting of things will not be required.

If the washing mashine and dryer are placed side by side, then there will be no inconvenience during operation.

If you have a washing and drying device, then two situations are possible. Let's look at the example of the LG AI DD F2DV5S8S0 model with a load of 8.5 kg for washing and 5 kg for drying:

  • maximum convenience will be provided by a combined cycle of washing and drying, but then the amount of things in the drum should initially be up to 5 kg;
  • in other cases, you can first wash with a maximum load, and then leave a little more than half (about 5 kg) of things in the drum, and remove the smaller part (3.5 kg). The rest will go to the next cycle or, for example, to a floor dryer.

If the amount of laundry to be dried after washing must be reduced, then the exact calculation of the allowable weight is complicated by the fact that the maximum load of drying devices is also indicated for dry items, and not wet ones, as we get them after washing.

Are there any other rules for loading laundry into the washing mashine?

Yes, weight is not the only important point to be dealt with. Additional recommendations for loading laundry into the washing machine include the following:

  • grouping by fabric type (this moment directly affects the weight, as already mentioned above);
  • sorting by colour. Bright things should not be washed with light and white products in order to avoid staining the latter;
  • preparing clothes for washing, including removing objects from pockets, fastening zippers (but unbuttoning buttons);
  • proper washing of down items without an appropriate mode: you need to add several special balls to the drum ( tennis balls are also suitable, which will reduce fluffing during the washing process;
  • the use of other special accessories, including bra bags, shoe covers, etc.
  • taking into account products size. If individual items, such as large bedspreads or blankets, are suitable for washing by weight, but are literally “tamped down” in the drum, then it is better to take them to the laundry;
  • selection of the optimal program for specific tasks. The set of specialized cycles in modern devices is becoming richer, including separate modes for denim and more.

Do not overload the washing machine in order for it to perform its functions properly and lasts as long as possible.