Loading a washing machine
Aim for around 80% drum capacity – enough room for laundry to move freely as the drum turns, but not so little that heavy items can clump on one side. Overloading causes poor wash results. Under-loading causes unbalanced loads that can result in violent spin banging or the machine refusing to spin at all.
Getting the drum loading right makes a significant difference to wash quality, spin efficiency, and the long-term health of the machine. Both extremes – too much and too little – cause distinct and avoidable problems.
Overloading the Drum
An overloaded drum leaves laundry with no room to move. Items circulate as one large compressed mass rather than tumbling freely through the wash water and detergent solution.
- Poor wash results – detergent cannot circulate or dissolve properly
- Laundry comes out badly creased – see our guide on laundry coming out badly creased
- Excess strain on the motor, drum bearings, and suspension
- In extreme cases, manufacturers have warned that door glass can shatter under the pressure of an overfilled drum – over 90 cases of exploding door glass have been reported. See our guide on washing machine door glass danger
Bear in mind that a full dry drum looks larger than it will be once wet. Many items compress significantly when wet, so a drum that looks very full when loaded will have considerably less bulk once the cycle is underway. Pat the clothes down and check there is a clear hand-width gap between the top of the load and the top of the drum before closing the door.
Under-loading the Drum
Under-loading is a less obvious problem than overloading but causes just as much trouble. With too few items inside, there is not enough laundry distributed around the drum to keep the load balanced on spin.
- Unbalanced spin loads – heavy items clump on one side with nothing to counter their weight
- Violent banging on spin if the machine does not detect the imbalance in time – see our guide on washing machine jumping and banging on spin
- Machine refusing to reach fast spin speed – modern machines detect imbalance and will not accelerate if the load is too unevenly distributed. This is protective but leaves laundry wet at the end of the cycle
- Particularly problematic with single heavy items – a bath mat, a duvet, or a single large towel. See our guide on machines that won’t spin single items or small loads
An overfull drum may wash poorly, but an underfull drum with a heavy item on one side can produce a dramatically unbalanced spin. Heavy bath mats are a well-known example – washing one alone almost always results in imbalance. Adding old towels or sheets to the load gives the machine enough material to distribute weight evenly.
How to Load Correctly
Occasional vs Persistent Imbalance
An occasional unbalanced load – even with loads you have washed successfully many times before – is an inevitable part of using a washing machine. Items settle differently each time and sometimes simply end up on the same side. This is not a cause for concern.
Persistent unbalanced loads, or regular violent banging on spin with correctly loaded machines, suggests an underlying fault rather than a loading issue. See our guide on washing machine jumping and banging on spin for more on mechanical causes.
Related Guides
Washing Machine Jumping and Banging on Spin
How to tell whether spin banging is load-related or a mechanical fault – and what to do about each.
Won’t Spin Single Items or Small Loads
Why washing machines refuse to spin with very small loads – and how to work around it.
Washing Not Getting Clean
How overloading and other loading mistakes affect wash results – and how to fix them.
Drum Capacity Comparison
How different drum sizes compare in practice – including how a duvet fits into 5kg, 7kg, and 8kg drums.
Frequently Asked Questions
How full should I fill a washing machine?
Around 80% of drum capacity is the general guidance. Pat the dry load down and check there is a clear gap between the top of the load and the top of the drum before closing the door. Remember that many items compress significantly when wet – a drum that looks full when dry will have noticeably less bulk once the cycle starts.
Can under-loading damage a washing machine?
It can, if the machine allows a severely unbalanced load to spin at full speed. Heavy items bunching on one side of the drum create an imbalance that strains the bearings and suspension with every revolution. Most modern machines detect severe imbalance and refuse to reach full spin speed rather than allow this – but this protection is not guaranteed in every circumstance.
Why won’t my machine spin when I wash a bath mat alone?
A single heavy bath mat almost always ends up unbalanced in the drum. Modern machines detect this and refuse to accelerate to full spin speed rather than allowing a violent and potentially damaging spin. The solution is to add other items to the load – old towels or sheets are ideal – to give the machine enough material to distribute weight evenly around the drum.
Is it bad to sometimes have an unbalanced load?
An occasional unbalanced load is normal and not damaging in isolation. Items settle differently each time and sometimes simply end up on the same side regardless of how carefully the machine was loaded. The machine’s out-of-balance detection system should handle most cases. It is only persistent or severe imbalance that indicates either a loading problem or an underlying mechanical fault.
Hello Rob. If a new washing machine is vibrating excessively right from the start the number one suspect is that the transit packaging has not been removed. This causes the suspension to stop working. Instead of the drum being able to bounce up and down and absorb the movement the whole washing machine moves from side to side and walks. So unless you know for sure that it has been removed properly that is the first thing to check. Checking the instruction book about removing the transit packaging. This is very often not the first thing in an instruction book, which is always ridiculous. I’ve seen removing the transit packaging instructions several pages in. Sometimes they are on a separate leaflet or stuck to the washing machine at the back.
Essentially transit packaging is designed to fix the main outer drum place and stop it bouncing up and down. So a quick way of testing it is to disconnect the washing machine from the mains take off the lid and bounce the drum up and down by hand. It should bounce up and down freely if it is stuck then the transit packaging is still in place.
Hi i recently had a new washing machine installed and since i have every wash i have done has resulted in the machine vibrating badly so badly when in the spin cycle the machine literally walks out from under the kitchen bench. The machine is the same size drum as my last one which i never had a single problem like this with it i am not washing any differentl loads with my new one also the feet seem to be level any tips on what i can try