How do I load a washing machine properly?

Washing happens because clothes fall through water. The drum lifts them on its paddles, they drop, the water is forced through the weave, and the detergent goes with it. A drum packed solid does not lift or drop anything — the load rotates as a single mass, the water never gets forced through it, and neither does the rinse. Almost every complaint about a machine not cleaning properly is this, and it costs nothing to fix.

What you'll need

• Nothing but the load itself
• A mesh bag for bras and small delicates (optional)

Step by step

1. Fill to about three quarters, loosely.Not compressed, not pushed down. Drop items in and let them sit where they land. The volume the load occupies loose is the volume that matters.
2. Use the flat hand test.You should be able to slide a flat hand into the drum on top of the load, palm down, without forcing it. If you cannot, take something out. It is the fastest reliable check there is.
3. Put the bulkiest item in first.A duvet cover, a towel, a pair of jeans. It goes to the back of the drum and the smaller items fill in around it, which is what lets the load redistribute during the spin rather than sitting as one lump.
4. Mix item sizes deliberately.A load of nothing but towels balances badly and a load of nothing but socks balances well but wastes the drum. A spread of sizes gives the machine something to work with when it distributes the load for the spin.
5. Never wash one heavy item alone.A single duvet, one bath sheet or one pair of jeans cannot balance itself, and the machine will attempt the spin, fail, redistribute and try again for twenty minutes before giving up and leaving it soaking. Add two or three smaller items.
6. Close and open things before they go in.Zips closed so the teeth do not saw at other fabric, hooks fastened, buttons undone so they are not strained, pockets emptied. Coins are the single most common object found in a pump filter.
7. Shake items out as you load.A duvet cover that goes in balled up will come out with the rest of the wash inside it, unwashed and unrinsed. Thirty seconds of shaking out prevents the commonest cause of a load that came out dry in patches.
8. Turn dark and printed items inside out.The outside of the garment then rubs against itself rather than against the drum, which is what causes the grey abraded look on dark cotton over time.
9. Use a mesh bag for anything that can tangle or hook.Bras, thin straps, tights and anything with a hook. It stops underwiring escaping into the drum, which is a repair, and stops straps wrapping around heavier items.
10. Load bulky items differently again.A duvet or a sleeping bag wants to go in loosely rolled, not folded, and wants noticeably more free space than a clothing load — half a drum rather than three quarters. It has to be able to open out in the water.
11. Do not under-fill either, if you can help it.A quarter-full drum is not harmful, but on most machines it uses more water and electricity per kilogram of washing than a proper load. Where the wash is not urgent, waiting for a full load is the cheaper habit.

Tips

• Towels and bedding wash better as their own load, but a bedding load still wants a couple of smaller items in it to help the spin balance.
• If clothes routinely come out with dry or soapy patches, the load size is the first thing to change — before the detergent, the programme or the machine.
• Loading a washer dryer for a wash-then-dry sequence means loading for the drying capacity, which is roughly half the wash capacity. Otherwise you will be taking half of it out wet.

Common mistakes

• Loading to the rated capacity in kilograms — The rating is a laboratory maximum measured with dry cotton. Real loads are mixed, and the limit that matters is volume — three quarters, loose.
• Pushing the load down to fit more in — Compressing a load removes exactly the space the machine needs to tumble it. It washes worse, rinses worse and stresses the bearings, and it is the single commonest laundry mistake.
• Washing a duvet on its own — It absorbs an enormous amount of water on one side, cannot balance, and the machine will refuse to spin it. Add towels, or use a bigger machine.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask