How to Avoid Overloading Your Washing Machine

Overloading washing machines with laundry may seem energy or cost efficient, but this time-saving method brings only negative repercussions. All washing machines have capacity limits, which determine how much weight the machines can hold. Cramming excess laundry into washing machines prevents them from properly cleaning the laundry, resulting in garments containing detergent residue and preexisting grime when washing cycles are complete. Overloading a washing machine also alters its drum's alignment, causing the drum to make loud clunking noise and spin irregularly. Avoid overloading your washing machine using basic techniques.

Washing machine's instruction manual
Clean trash bag
Bathroom scale

Instructions

- 1
  Read the washing machine's instruction manual or contact the machine's manufacturer directly to discover the washing machine's precise capacity limit. Although average washing machines generally hold 12 to 16 lbs. of laundry at once, don't automatically assume your machine's capacity limit is average.
- 2
  Fill clean trash bag with the dirty laundry before loading the machine. Place the bag of laundry on a bathroom scale to measure the laundry's weight.
- 3
  Compare the weight of laundry with your washing machine's capacity limit. If the laundry weighs more than the washing machine's capacity limit, remove garments from the bag until the laundry's weight is at or below the washing machine's capacity limit.
- 4
  Empty the bag of laundry into your washing machine. Distribute the garments loosely and evenly into the machine to balance the load.

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