Adding water to washing machine

ripplyuk

With these modern washing machines using barely any water, I’ve found clothes come out much cleaner if I add more with a watering can. Usually about 20 litres. Could this cause any problems? Someone has told me that it could make the machine flood. 

EssexExile

I can't see it causing any problem, if you put too much in it will think it's about to flood and probably pump it out again. Doesn't your machine the ability to increase the water amount in any of the multitude of settings they seem to have nowadays?

Hold on - 20 litres? That's a hell of a lot. Most people are quite happy with the washing ability of their machines, what are you doing that makes yours so bad? Not enough detergent? Not very good detergent? Overloading?

kazwookie

Don't put so many clothes in.

Bendy_House

I have to say, I sometimes used to do that too, when we weren't on a water meter and the sun was out (PV panels). Can't say I really noticed a better wash, tho'... Now on a water meter, I don't bother.

But, there is no harm in doing this, provided - as said above - you don't overdo it. If you look at the water level through the glass door during rinses, that will give you an idea of a safe max water level - usually a normal 'wash' level is far less. I used to add water until I saw the water level reach up perhaps a half-inch or so up from the bottom of the glass door, and stopped there. So, not excessive.

So, unlikely to be problems unless stoopidly over-filled, but a fair bit more leccy will be used to heat it.

ripplyuk

EssexExile said:

I can't see it causing any problem, if you put too much in it will think it's about to flood and probably pump it out again. Doesn't your machine the ability to increase the water amount in any of the multitude of settings they seem to have nowadays?

Hold on - 20 litres? That's a hell of a lot. Most people are quite happy with the washing ability of their machines, what are you doing that makes yours so bad? Not enough detergent? Not very good detergent? Overloading?

I’ve no idea but there’s so little water, it doesn’t surprise me that clothes come out still dirty. It’s not just this machine either. The previous one was just as bad. I’ve experimented with different types/quantities of detergent but only adding more water seems to help. It’s never overloaded but doing half loads doesn’t help because the machine weighs the load. Reducing the load also reduces the amount of water. 

ETA: it doesn’t have an ‘extra water’ setting. 

comeandgo

If you are putting in a full load and adding 20 litres then that is a very heavy load for your machine.

Lomast

20 litres weighs 20kg that is a heck of a load for the machine dont expect the bearings to last long

ripplyuk

It’s rarely a full load. It’s an 8kg max machine and I generally put 4kg in, but I can see the point about the extra weight when adding water. 

It might wear the machine out quicker but having to re-wash everything is extra wear & tear too. It’s hard to know which is most economical. 

Section62

ripplyuk said:

It’s rarely a full load. It’s an 8kg max machine and I generally put 4kg in, but I can see the point about the extra weight when adding water. 

Are the results any better with the machine loaded closer to the maximums?

Modern minimal-water machines rely on more on the detergents and mechanical action to do the cleaning - if the load is small there may not be enough force to achieve the required level of mechanical action to achieve a good cleaning effect.

The extra water won't necessarily be a problem for the bearings - the extra mass of water is mainly acting on the outer drum (tub) rather the inner drum (where the clothes are).  The additional load on the bearings would primarily be due to the clothes (possibly) being more saturated when the water level is higher, but that will be much less than the additional (say) 20kg of water.

The additional water may overload the springs and dampers that support the outer drum (tub) though.

shiraz99

You're not doing your machine any favours adding 20 litres of water before running it and also this is a huge waste of water.

TELLIT01

I would expect a washing machine to have some sort of valve to prevent it overfilling, so wouldn't adding 20 litres manually just reduce the amount that comes in via the pipe?