A common problem when washing laundry is when the clothes come out of the wash very badly creased. There are several possible causes of this creasing to investigate.
First, make sure the drum isn’t overloaded. It’s easy to overload certain types of laundry because although you may have a large drum capacity the manufacturers only advise using this full capacity with cottons. Everything else has a much lower wash load capacity (check your instruction book). For example my washing machine has a 6kg drum, but the instruction book shows the following maximum loads –
- Cottons – Max load 6kg
- Minimum Iron – max load 3kg
- Delicates – max load 2kg
- Woollens – max load 2kg
- Silks – max load 1kg
Some of these load sizes seem very small, but silks and delicates for example weigh much less than cotton towels so it still might take a fair amount of laundry to reach that capacity. Even so, overloading may cause creasing, so make sure you follow instructions if you are having excessive creasing issues.
Spin speeds and creasing
Like load sizes, spin speeds are surprisingly low for many types of laundry. So make sure you aren’t spinning any affected laundry at too high a spin speed. This is a list of maximum spin speeds from my Miele washing machine –
- Cottons: 1400 rpm
- Minimum iron: 1200 rpm
- Delicates: 600 rpm
- Woollens: 1200 rpm
- Silks: 400 rpm
- Shirts: 600 rpm
- Denim: 900 rpm
So you need to make sure you are washing your laundry on the right wash and spin cycles and not overloading. You should check out your own washing machine instruction book. These guides are for a 6Kg 1400rpm washing machine and yours may well differ.
Creasing caused by rinsing in hot water
Another more rare cause of creasing is if the washing machine is rinsing in hot water. This would seriously crease the clothes. It is relatively rare, but I have seen it many times over the years.
Either the fill hoses, or water taps are misconnected. The hot water goes to the cold valve and cold water goes to the hot valve.
These days most washing machines only have a cold valve, but the wrong water supply can still get connected to it by mistake. Here are the reasons why this can happen –
1: Simple lack of attention to the job when connecting the hose pipe(s).
2: Someone correctly connects the right coloured hose to the right valve (red for hot, blue for cold). They just assume that the water running through will be the right type. However, previously someone has attached the hoses to the wrong taps at the plumbing end.
3: Someone correctly connects the hoses to the washing machine but the person who did the plumbing fitted the taps to the wrong water supply, or incorrectly identified the taps by fitting the wrong colour lever or marker. The taps have a red mark or lever to signify hot water and a blue mark or lever for cold. No attention was paid to making sure they were on the right supply, so someone connecting the hoses up correctly wouldn’t realise the water supply was wrong.
You can check by simply putting the washing machine on rinses and ensuring the water going in is stone cold, and stays cold. Don’t forget that even hot water can be cold at first until it runs warm. Also don’t check if the hot water hasn’t been on or if there’s none left in the hot water tank. If your washing machine was connected up wrong though it should mean the clothes come out warm and it will certainly waste a lot of hot water too. (More information – Should the washing come out warm or cold?)
Creasing caused by too high wash temperature
Another thing that can cause creasing is washing on too hot a temperature or washing easily creased laundry on a program at the correct temperature but with a final spin speed that’s too fast.
Don’t leave laundry in the drum
Make sure that affected laundry is taken out of the drum as soon as they have spun. Letting laundry lay in the drum for lengthy periods can also cause creasing.
This is why dedicates wash cycles have an anti-crease guard where they suspend the clothes in water until you are ready to spin them and retrieve them straight away. It’s also why many washing machines have an anti-crease action after spinning by regularly turning the drum until the clothes have been taken out.
A last resort option
The above article lists all of the common and possible causes for badly creased laundry that I can think of. However, if your problem has definitely not been caused by any of the above, then it could simply just be that your washing machine is causing excessive creasing. Possibly by the fact that it is not using enough water during rinses.
Check out this Washerhelp forum topic, which gives a possible solution to creased clothes and laundry. It does involve a bit of messing about but it appears to have worked for this contributor. It might be worth trying at least to see if the washing machine is at fault.
(Related links: Download replacement Instruction books (If yours is lost) | Issues related to installing or connecting up a washing machine)
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Never used to crease now it’s starting to crease my fleases and cottons and towels and they are stiff and not washing properly
My daughter had a whirlpool washing machine and most clothes never needed ironing, she got a hoover washing machine when the whirlpool broke and all clothes come out very wrinkled. We can’t understand why
Hi Joan. Every possible cause of excessive creasing is listed in this article. If you read carefully though it all and discount things one by one you should find the reason, even if the reason is the washing machine is rubbish.
New machine washing now comes out hot even though I only have a cold inlet hose/pipe. How is this possible. I got it replaced engineer said it must be a faulty thermostat! Did not actually check it just believed me and confirmed only a cold water inlet. New machine same problem. Didn’t happen with old machine
Hi Beth. I honestly don’t know how it would be possible for laundry to come out of a washing machine hot unless it’s being rinsed in hot water, or it has aborted the cycle before reaching the cold rinses and the hot water is from the wash section.
When you say you only have a cold inlet hose pipe, are you 100% sure that this pipe is only providing cold water? Things like the colour of the tap or fill hose (ie. Red for hot – blue for cold) can’t be relied upon. People can connect the hose to the wrong tap, or fit a tap with a blue handle on the hot tap by mistake. The best way to be 100% sure is to carefully open the soap dispenser drawer whilst the washing machine is filling up on one of the rinses to ensure that the water is stone-cold.
Having said that, if this problem has only occurred after the new washing machine, then it would imply that there was nothing wrong with your plumbing. Could the new washing machine have been connected up differently somehow to your previous one? Read my article on the subject here – Should washing come out hot or cold?
The reason I focus on this is that it seems highly unlikely that 2 brand-new washing machines would do the same thing. It seems more likely that it is a plumbing issue. A faulty washing machine can’t be totally ruled out, although I struggle to think what the issue could be.
This is because it should be impossible for a washing machine to heat up the water on the final rinse. And even if it did, it would take half an hour to 45 minutes to get the water “hot”. Don’t forget, there is twice as much water in the drum on rinses as there is on the wash cycle.
So if your washing machine was heating up the rinse water, the wash cycle should take absolutely ages. If your washing machine is going through the wash cycle at roughly the amount of time stated in the instruction book, and laundry is coming out clean (not soapy) then it would indicate the washing machine is working okay and the only source of heat for the laundry is if the rinse water was hot.
But again, having said all of that, it should be extremely simple to check. Just watch the washing machine when it is on its rinsing cycles. It should fill up with cold water, then rinse the laundry for several minutes before emptying it out. It should do this 3 or 4 times. Each time it fills up on the rinses, just pull the dispenser drawer out and see if the water is hot or cold. If it is cold, then the washing inside the drum should not be able to become hot unless the heating element is somehow energised. But each rinse shouldn’t last anywhere near long enough to allow the heating element to warm rinse water up.
That is really helpful. Thank you. Will try feeling in the dispenser drawer as water goes in. There is definitely only one hose inlet tap. Will let you know how we get on
Ah that is so helpful. Will try checking in the drawer. I did type a longer reply but moderator said it was a repetition of my previous one! And would mot send it Definitely only one inlet pipe from wall or on machine. Almost too scared to give it a try.!!! Perhaps water going via boiler. Will let you know. Thank you
Your reply was so helpful thank you so much. In spite of only one inlet pipe and hose the water is indeed coming in hot . Don’t know when or how it happened but have had work done within last year
and must have happened then. Why didn’t I think of feeling the water as it came in through the dispenser drawer.!! I fear it may be an expensive job to rectify. Thank you again.
I’ve had a John Lewis Inverter 9kg JLWM1607 washing machine for the past few years. It was highly recommended by Which? and it’s the worst machine I have ever used.
I’ve used many different machines over the years both at home and abroad and without exception this is the worst ever.
The element of creasing is horrendous even on a cold wash. The only way I can overcome the problem. although clothes suffer some creasing, is to use a very slow spin so that sometimes the clothes are actually dripping wet.
I complained to John Lewis soon after the machine was delivered and I had several visits from engineers, who were horrified to see the state of my clothes and agreed there was a problem. I actually had to throw some garments away because the creases were so bad they just would iron out. The degree of heat and steam I was having to apply wasn’t doing the fabric any favours and still it didn’t achieve anything. A long battle with John Lewis achieved absolutely nothing they just weren’t interested.
I even complained to Which because I believe that the creasing factor should be part of their assessment. The person I spoke to agreed that it wasn’t something they looked at but thought that maybe they should in the future.
I’ve persisted and struggled along with it because it’s expensive to replace but I’m now throughly fed up and looking to buy a new one. I’ve looked briefly at Which and Good Housekeeping but I can’t see any reference to creasing in their performance reviews.
I can’t risk making the same mistake again and would appreciate your opinion.
Hi Pamela. Have you gone through all of the possible causes of excessive creasing in my article to make sure it isn’t something that can be fixed? Especially rinsing in hot water due to misconnection of the plumbing. Also, do you have crease guard activated if you don’t remove the finished laundry pretty soon after they have spun because leaving them in the drum causes creasing too.
It is hard to imagine a cause of a specific washing machine creasing laundry that doesn’t have one of the issues mentioned in my article.