After receiving many comments on my article about the number of people having laundry come out of the washing machine or washer dryer with holes and tears ( Holes in washing (laundry) ) I’ve written a page on my washing machine site Washerhelp. This page links to all the resources on the the subject so far and requests more photos Holes in clothes from washing machines
Comments
Comment Policy: Comments are welcome but moderated before appearing. Please keep on topic. Email not compulsary (or published if entered) but useful if I needed to contact you personally about your comment.
Thank you for this article and site! I was starting to think we have moths—but yes, I do use the HIGH spin cycle (To try and avoid long dry cycles) and I’ve found t-shirts, cotton yoga pants, and jersey cotton sheets ALL with little circular holes. Thank you for the information! (BTW, I am using a Whirlpool DUET GHW series.)
My Indesit WD12X just chewed up the edge of a cotton chairseat cushion – 1200 speed should be ok – not a large drum and with no sharp bits. 1 cushion shouldn’t be overloading. Left it with a grey coloured corner with a couple of holes. If I can’t wash and spin this then its not worth having a machine is it – don’t care what the manual says its not doing the job!
Washer dryers have tended to give more problems in this area due to the vent at the top of the door gasket where the hot air from the dryer section is blown into the drum. Laundry can get caught in the gap between the drum and door seal, dragged up to the top and snag on this vent. Different designs may be less or more prone to this. As your item has got grey markings on it sounds like it got caught in the gap between the drum and door seal.
If the washer dryer is several years old or it could have a widened gap due to wear on the rubber. Check to make sure the seal hasn’t gone floppy or distorted near the drum allowing a larger gap to open up and making it more likely for items to get caught.
Overloading, is usually blamed by the manufacturers but as you say Rosie, you clearly didn’t overload if you only had the one item inside unless it was particularly large or bulky.
If the item is washable, with a wash label, and it doesn’t exceed the weight limit for the washer I don’t blame you for being angry at the washing machine. If it does this regularly you may be able to argue it’s not be fit for its purpose though it’ll be more difficult on just one incident.