Wool cycle on washing machine

February 3, 2024 12:24 PM

U.K based here. Why do my clothes (jumpers etc) come out sopping wet after washing them on the wool cycle?

This has happened a few times on different washing machines. So it's not a fault with the machine.

Does anyone know why this is the case and what to do about it?

posted by Sunflower88 to Home & Garden (12 answers total)

It's the spin cycle that's most likely to cause felting, so this may be intentional.

If you have room to lay them out flat to dry, that would be best. Make sure to support the whole garment when you lift it out of the washer, otherwise it's own weight will pull it out of shape. (It'll be heavy due to all the water it has absorbed.)
posted by demi-octopus at 12:29 PM on February 3, 2024 [5 favorites]

At least on our Bosch washer, the wool cycle limits the spin cycle to 800 RPM (normal is 1400 RPM), probably to avoid damaging delicate knits. If you think your woolens can hold up to a more robust spin cycle, there's probably a way to select a "spin only" that will spin out the water at the normal RPM for the washer without an additional rinse/agitation cycle.
posted by pullayup at 12:32 PM on February 3, 2024 [2 favorites]

For years I've washed woolens by hand and then spun out the water in a washing machine without appreciable felting, so I strongly suspect agitation in hot water is more likely to cause felting than a high-RPM spin cycle. But please use whatever caution you think is necessary for your own clothing!
posted by pullayup at 12:34 PM on February 3, 2024 [2 favorites]

The wool cycle is slow-agitation, low-spin. The spin is what removes a lot of the water from the garments.

You can try doing a final spin-only cycle after you've finished the initial wash (assuming your machine has that setting). Please understand that you are risking felting, though. Don't do this with your 80-year-old heirloom wool Aran sweater.
posted by praemunire at 12:35 PM on February 3, 2024 [1 favorite]

For years I've washed woolens by hand and then spun out the water in a washing machine without appreciable felting, so I strongly suspect agitation in hot water is more likely to cause felting than a high-RPM spin cycle.

FWIW, I think that's actually correct (especially if there are a lot of clothes relative to the size of the washer), but I'm sure manufacturers knew having this cycle was playing with fire anyway so went as conservative as possible.

For the relatively few items I handwash instead of dry-cleaning, since I don't have infinite space to spread them out to air-dry, I usually give them a run through a spin-only cycle to speed their drying.
posted by praemunire at 12:37 PM on February 3, 2024

At least for my Samsung washer, a single large article that soaks up a lot of water (like a big jumper, or a bundle of them that end up tangled together) can unbalance the drum so that the washer throws a balance error and doesn't reach the desired 800 RPM at all. This results in a completely un-spun load that's yes, soaking wet. Often the solution is to run the spin cycle again after dividing the load in two.
posted by I claim sanctuary at 12:38 PM on February 3, 2024 [8 favorites]

Being the impatient obstinate Horse that I am, I have run wool items on the standard spin cycle and regretted it. Just the weight of the water can pull heavier items out of shape to where you wind up with one sleeve longer than the other, or one side of a vest stretched out.

Agree to use both hands to lift them out, then put them on a towel and gently squeeze excess water out. Arrange on a flat surface and let dry enough that there's not a lot of weight pulling from the bottom when you transfer the garment a line to finish drying.

It's a real PITA to do this IMO, so unless you have something special, I just spin stuff out on regular cycle for a bit, run them on a very very very low heat in the dryer for a short period with the idea that it gets all the fibers more or less aligned and back to the same length, and then stretch things back into shape and finish by line drying.

If you're going to live here, you better be tough and able to hack the brutality. Most of my stuff is outdoor wear and gets a lot of abuse anyway. I do not publicly endorse any information in the above paragraph.
posted by BlueHorse at 1:11 PM on February 3, 2024 [4 favorites]

I sometimes experience this with our Bosch, which limits the wool wash to an 800rpm spin as others describe above. I’ve found running another 800rpm rinse and spin if things are too wet always solves it, for some reason. Only takes a few minutes.

The main thing I’ve done to solve it though is washing less wool at a time. The wool wash only seems to work well with a much smaller load than other wash types. With young kids who wear a lot of wool, I often just do two smaller loads, even if it could all fit in the drum.
posted by distorte at 2:35 PM on February 3, 2024

Here's a thought about some of the excess water: lay the woollies out on a towel and roll it all up (tight enough) like a swiss roll. The water will partition out between the two fabrics and you can treat the wet towel with less delicatesse.
posted by BobTheScientist at 2:48 PM on February 3, 2024 [3 favorites]

The wool wash only seems to work well with a much smaller load than other wash types.

I just checked the instructions that came with my machine (not a Bosch) and they do explicitly list different load sizes for each type of cycle, with most of the sizes much smaller than the machine's actual capacity. The recommended max load size for the wool/handwash cycle is 1/6th the largest load size.

Not that I generally follow these limits, but maybe that explains my not-great results.
posted by trig at 3:10 PM on February 3, 2024 [1 favorite]

The wool wash only seems to work well with a much smaller load than other wash types. With young kids who wear a lot of wool, I often just do two smaller loads, even if it could all fit in the drum.

This is generally better to reduce the amount of friction to which the fabric is subjected and thus the risk of felting, anyway.
posted by praemunire at 3:52 PM on February 3, 2024 [1 favorite]

As for what to do about it - carry the jumper to the nearest sink (over a bowl, if necessary). Have two large bath towels at hand. GENTLY but firmly squeeze the water from the jumper. Don't "wring it". lay it out on one bath towel (towel folded in half if it's big enough), not stretched out. Roll the towel up like a joint around the sweater, gently squeezing and pressing. Lay the sweater out flat to dry on the second, dry towel.
posted by amaire at 12:02 PM on February 6, 2024