Anyone solved the problem of washing machine causing small holes in garments?

usignuolo

Has anyone ever got to the bottom of washing machines causing small holes in garments?. I have had them appear in lots of my clothes since I got a new Hotpoint, couple of years back but the garments were not new so I put it down to wear and tear, even though I only wash on low temperature and always use non-bio detergent.

Now I am not so sure. I was given a very nice fine cotton tee shirt for Christmas, very good quality, and have worn it once. I wanted to wear it again so decided to wash it today but by hand with a non bio detergent. However it was difficult to ring out satisfactorily by hand so I decided to give it a quick rinse and slow spin in the machine to get all the soap powder out and make it faster to dry.

It was the only thing I put in and only used the setting for rinse and slow spin with warm not hot water. I watched it spin and it did not catch between door and drum. When I took it out there were five or six small holes in it across the middle and lower front. I was mortified.

There are definitely no sharp edges in the drum, no bra wwires caught and sticking up and it did not get stuck anywhere - I watched it. However it did spin at around 900rpm and I have looked at the holes in the drum and they do seem to be a similar size to the holes in the tee, if you imagine the fine cotton being pulled into the holes during the spin. Certainly what it looks like.

Has anyone else with this problem narrowed it down to the machine itself and are there machines which are better or worse at doing this?

Artytarty

I've had the same problem with my Miele. Not very often but I recognise what are describing here! It always seems to be on cotton jersey things like a nightdress or t shirt. Your explanation may well be correct.

tibawo

I have noticed this and wondered if it was moths as I heard on the increase.

anotheruser

Bio, non-bio.... it doesn't really matter these days unless you have an allergy.

I guess you inspected the clothes before placing in the machine.

Have you investigated what else it does it on? The only way to tell is use the same settings, same washing detergent, same temperature and see which come out with holes, which don't. Try and load the machine the same as well.

I would presume not many people have this problem so it will be hard to find the answer.

Cloudydaze

anotheruser wrote: »

I would presume not many people have this problem so it will be hard to find the answer.

I have this problem!!

I tend to buy which ever laundry products are on offer so have used both bio and non bio. Machine is Bosch with no obvious sharp bits. Im at a loss!

pavlovs_dog

mother in law also has same problem

thegirlintheattic

Me too. Now only half load machine, spin on lowest and never do just 1 item.

arbroath_lass

If you are washing (or spinning) fine fabric could you put it in something heavier to protect it? e.g. an old pillowcase. Not a real answer but maybe a workaround?

Pipkin

Are you sure there isn't a hole in the drum somewhere? I don't say that disrespectfully but we had the same problem, and it was hard to find, but it was a hole in the drum.

ruds46

doesn't have to be a bra wire, could be something like a hair clip. The only way to make sure is to split the inner & outer drum. At 900rpm I doubt very much whether you'd be able to spot the offending debris. Good Luck with it.

abankerbutnotafatcat

I had this problem with my Miele. I was losing so many expensive cotton tops/t-shirts that I did some research and found many suggesting that it was the spin speed. This made sense as I'd never had any issues with delicates/wool that I spin at 800 but was having issues with t-shirts that I was spinning at 1400. My previous washing machine had a top spin of 1200 so this, again, made sense.

I changed over six months ago and now spin my cottons at max 1200 except for sheets and towels which remain at 1400. And fingers crossed, this has eliminated the issue for me.

I can see OP had the issue at a low spin so it may not help them but I've written in case it helps any other forumites.