What is Filled Weight?
When buying a washing machine or tumble dryer, you may come across the term ‘fill weight’. The fill weight indicates how many kilos of washing fits into the drum. It is also referred to as the capacity or capacity of the dryer or washing machine. The drum capacity indicates the maximum fill weight. The dryer will often fit more laundry if you stuff it, but this is not recommended. It is bad for the dryer, and may not dry your laundry properly.
It is important to buy a dryer with the right amount of fill weight, otherwise you will use unnecessary energy. If you buy a dryer with too much fill weight, you will not get a full drum when you run your drying program. And that is a shame, because you will not get the most out of your drying cycle. If you buy a dryer that is too small, you will end up with the problem that you have far more laundry than will fit in the drum. This means that you will have to dry several small loads, which means that your dryer will be on more often than necessary. This also increases your energy consumption unnecessarily.
The maximum fill weight varies from one dryer to another. Most dryers have a 8 kg fill weight, but there are also dryers with 7 kg and 9 kg fill weight.
How many pounds of fill weight do you need?
How much fill weight you need depends on several aspects. If you are shopping for a new clothes dryer, keep the following tips in mind when deciding how much fill weight you need.
Choose a clothes dryer that has at least as much drum capacity as your washing machine. That way, you can be sure that all of your wet laundry goes straight into the drum of your dryer. Are you buying a new dryer and a new washing machine? Then you’ll have to figure out the right fill weight for you and your household in a different way. To get an idea of what size you need, take a look at the chart below:
- 7 kg fill weight: this is considered a smaller capacity for a washer/dryer. For this reason, models with a 7 kg fill weight are most commonly used by a single household or a couple.
- 8 kg fill weight: most clothes dryers sold have a fill weight of 8 kg. This type of dryer is suitable for a household of three or four people, such as a small family with one or two children.
- 9 kg fill weight: this large capacity is mainly used for families and households of five people and more. It is also very common for tumble dryers to have 9 kg fill weight.
The size of a household is one of the most important factors when it comes to the fill weight, but of course there is more to it than that. Some households wash and dry more for many different reasons. For example, they have small children in the house, there are allergies that require more frequent washing or because someone in the family does a lot of sport. These can all be reasons to go for a larger load, even though a 8kg load is generally sufficient and a good choice for most households.