Many people find it difficult to know exactly how many clothes to put in their washer dryer, but when you understand how capacity is measured, it’s a lot simpler than you think.

Washer Dryer Drum Sizes Explained       

The capacity of washer dryers is usually stated as a weight in kilograms. It represents the amount of dry clothing that you can safely fit into the drum. You must never cram clothing in so much that the drum is completely filled. If you are doing a wash cycle, then the drum should be around three-quarters full. You cannot fill it that much for drying, though. That’s because your clothes will dry better and creaseless if they have more room to move around during the drying cycle. 

A larger drum can work out cheaper as you’re only doing a few larger washes, so less electricity and water is needed, but if you choose a machine with too large a capacity, then you could end up wasting energy and water by underfilling it. 

Washer dryers have two different capacities – one for washing and another for drying. Because there is a difference between washing and drying capacities, if you’ve washed a full load, you will have to remove some laundry before drying it. 

Washing Capacity

Washing capacities start at 5 kg and go up to 12 kg in the very largest models. 5 kg equates to roughly 16 shirts, and 12 kg about 38 shirts. For a medium-sized household, a drum size of 6-8 kg is usually about right – with the benefit of being able to fit in larger items such as duvets. 

Drying Capacity

Drying capacities are smaller than the washing capacity and range from 4 kg in a standard machine up to about 7 kg. Some of the smallest models only have a drying capacity of 2.5 kg. They are better suited to single people.

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