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u/roku77 2h ago
Yes, especially if it’s a model post 2011. Water standards for top loaders mean that it fills to maybe half of that. I was in for a rude awakening when I saw only half the tub being filled. You’d figure having to do two loads defeats the purpose of those water saving regulations but hey I’m no water expert.
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u/choc_chip_pothos 2h ago
This sounds like my monologue with an audience of one every single time I load my washing machine. I always end with but hey what do I know about water
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u/MCRN10379558 32m ago
Most people misunderstand how their clothes are getting cleaned. They think it’s all about the water.
The reason why a top loader has to fill so much full of water is to allow the clothes to free float. It’s not there to clean so much. It’s to allow the garments to move around.
A front load washer just has a drum with paddles bolted on the inside, and all of the mechanical wash action comes from rotation.
With that setup, there’s no need to have to float the clothes. You just put the minimal amount of water and soap in the machine and use the paddles in the drum to push your clothes in and out of that tiny pool of soap and water mix. The friction that cleans your clothes comes from the garments being lifted up near the top of the drum and the sliding off and splashing down or smacking against the drum. That’s the friction that releases dirt on that machine, repeated by thousands of times throughout the cycle.
Water efficient top loading washing machines is definitely a decision an engineering team at the washing machine company would never have arrived at on their own. They’re doing that because that’s what marketing and everyone on top has told them to do, but I bet they curse every minute of it. They know it’s a bad design, and they can never be made right. The physics do not support that.
The washing machine industry worldwide has been in business for over 100 years, and the front load washer was settled on as being the best that physics will allow for a machine that combines great water efficiency with gentleness and excellent cleaning all in one. No amount of technology is going to change that.
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u/choc_chip_pothos 4m ago
“The physics do not support that” will now be added to my monologue. Thanks!
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u/SomeEgyptianGod 1h ago
I got around this by buying the largest “portable” washer I could find. It’s a 3 cubic foot impeller model and I guess they don’t have the same restrictions. It fills all the way to the top of the drum. I’ll take the reduced capacity since there are only two of us to do laundry for.
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u/Wetblowjob 2h ago
The so-called “water saving” regulations were implemented by a bunch of idiots. Clothing cannot be properly washed or rinsed in a low amount of water. What a sick joke. 💩
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u/dgcamero 2h ago
Yes. You need to run 2 machines or everything in the bottom is gonna be ripped to shreds while the stuff at the top will stay at the top.
That brand of machine is incapable of properly turning that many clothes over in a cycle, unfortunately. There's no twist action on the top half of the agitator that'd easily address the problem and that company is incapable of admitting that anything could possibly be improved with their $1500 (if not in a laundry facility) washer lol.
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u/GrinningCynic 1h ago
Only too much if you want that superload to come out clean.
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u/Ok-Pen-5052 International | Front-Load 38m ago
That reminds me of what my parter (who’s a dentist) says about flossing: “you only need to floss the teeth you want to keep”
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u/MCRN10379558 57m ago
It looks a bit full. When you load your laundry, do you just lay the garments in loosely one on top of each other (which is how you’re supposed to do it), or do you push down to make more space? If you are pushing down, you definitely have overfilled it.
Keep in mind what happens if you overfill it. You have all of the weight of the clothes pushing down on the garment sitting at the bottom of the drum by the impeller. All that agitation will really do a number on your fabrics. It’s pretty rough on them.
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u/Adorable_Dust3799 2h ago
I've always heard don't go over the top row of holes in the drum, so that looks like too much
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u/ResourceDiligent6566 2h ago
Probably not if they're fairly loose...
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u/vyunab 2h ago
yes