Was my laundry load too big?

Question

It's a cheap top loading washing machine, and I put a full hamper in it. It's not the upper level type either, it's about the lowest size. What are the effects of large loads on the machine?

Answer 1

If you put that many clothes in a personal washer your clothes didn't come clean.  You must only put in enough clothes that can move around freely in the water in order to be able to remove dirt from the wash cycle. Otherwise you might as well just rinse them and forget the soap because that will only leave a residue on your clothes that could be irritating to you when you wear them.  

Not to mention the wear and tear on the washer.  It was not made to move that many clothes around.  It was manufactured primarily to move the water around the clothes.  

Answer 2

Your clothes will not wash properly. The washer will have a harder time pushing the clothes around. It may need to push out more water. And yes it sounds like you did overload the washer. You want to leave about  6-8 inches of space from the top of the washer to your clothes.

Answer 3

You can definitely damage your machine by overloading it.

You need to re-do this laundry.  There is no way your clothes are even close to being clean.

Start over. Put the laundry in the machine to where it is about half full.  Don't pack it down, just lay it in there.  Make sure it's spread evenly around the basket.   Set the size of the load to large.  Now add detergent and wash again.

Do your underwear seperate from all other laundry, too.