General Chat

I was thinking about wear and tear on the machine. Half load used more often but not on half load setting as machine doesn't have one. So there is not the wieght in machine to slow it down on the spin cycle etc. Girlfiends landlady is blaming her for the machine breaking down. My girlfriend uses it everyother day on a full load but the landlady uses it 3-4 times a day on less than half load. the landlady is saying that my girlfriend overloads the machine and has put more stress on it therefore it broke.

From a men's 'it all washes at 40 ' attitude it makes more sense to wash full loads rather than these girlie, 'it just needs freshening' washes where they put two things in the machine and your gym kit still crawls across the floor towards the door. A full load squanders lashings of water, a part load uses just a bit less. (If I knew where we kept the manual for our machine I'd know just how much. Instead I pay the water bill. One other important consideration when calculating washing machine loads is: If I wash this with that and it gets ruined, how much will it cost when she takes me shopping on Saturday. When in doubt, chicken out. Pete

I think you have to balance all the valid points made above with how much laundry you have of a certain colour and fabric type at any one time. I live alone and would hate to have dirty laundry hanging about until i could make up a full load requiring the same temperature and wash programme. I'm afraid I often do half loads and sometimes it's a job to make a decent half load. I wish half a load was half the time though, but i think my numerous half loads won't total as many weekly wash cycles as a family would have, if that makes sense! Jay

Yes, its bad for your pocket and the environment.

Kevin, My old machine did half loads - used half the amount of water, but not half the amount of time per cycle. Then theres the wear and tear to consider on the machine - does half a load equal half the wear and tear (and does a smaller load spin for less time ?) Spent my early married life hand washing a lot of stuff rather than wash about six items at a time. Since having a family ive never bought a machine with a half load facility (could do with a double one sometimes!) I would say go with a full load. Elaine x.

I would imagine that one full load goes through the cycle once and 3 or 4 small loads puts less strain on the machine but goes through the cycle 3 or 4 times so the overall wear and tear on your machine might well be more in the long run. I know my instruction manual suggests full loads when ever possible.

I think so because if you save the washing from the half load and put it with the other half load you save on water surely? so the more full loads the better.

Technically yes. More economical to do a full load. But in saying that, don't do the man thing and chuck everything in together (reds and whites etc) for the sake of economy!! Rebs x

Kevin, How do you mean 'worse'? If you mean worse in consumption of water and electricity, of course using it more will use more resources. That will also obviously use more time. If you mean worse for the items you're washing, unless everything you wash is washable at the same temperature and for the same amount of time, then some items are bound to suffer if you wash everything together in the same wash. CB >|<

I would imagine that the amount of water that you use would decrease as would washing liquid, electricity etc!!

I dont know, my machines on about 4 times a day with small and large loads. jean

Can using a washing machine 3 -4 times a day with half loads or less be worse than using it once with a full load?