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I read that clothes shed more fibers in top-loaded washing machines than in front-loaded ones. Does that also apply to horizontal top-loaded ones?

Robert Kusznier
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    Please share your sources. Because there are many places to read stuff, not few of them spilling a lot of bollocks. – Erik Sep 20 '21 at 07:42
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    @Erik I read that in Patagonia's Product Care article. They write "studies show synthetic jackets laundered in top-load washing machines shed more than seven times as many microfibers as the same jacket in front-load washers.". Unfortunately they don't reference what study it was. Only as far as I know they are last company to spread some unconfirmed bollocks. But I'll try to find some other source that would confirm it... – Robert Kusznier Sep 22 '21 at 13:24

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Top-loading impeller and agitator style washing machines (predominant in Asia and the US) generally put more mechanical wear on the laundry than front loading machines (predominant in Europe). The better distinction would be vertical axis (impeller and agitator) and horizontal axis (EU-style front loaders AND horizontal axis top loaders), as the main difference is not how you load the machine, but the different laundry process resulting from horizontal or vertical axis. Washing cycles in vertical axis machines are (in general) shorter than in horizontal axis machines and often use only cold water, while most horizontal axis washing programes use heated water. According to Sinners Circle (the four interdependent factors time, chemistry, temperature and mechanical action influence the outcome of any cleaning process. For a consistent cleaning result, you have to increase factors if you lower others, see e.g. here), using cold water and a short washing time needs higher chemistry and/or mechanical action in the vertical axis machines to achieve a similar cleaning result as for horizontal axis machines. Through higher mechanical action, the laundry experiences more mechanical wear: rubbing, abrading, etc. wich in turn allows more fibers to come lose or fiber pieces to break off, resulting in more fibers in the suds. In the case of synthetic fibers, this will in turn lead to an increase of microplastic fibers.

Sursula
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  • most horizontal axis washing programes use heated water. The source actually says "very often" and doesn't include a reference. I'm guessing perhaps in Europe a washer only needs a cold water connection which is why heating is internal? In the U.S. the standard washer has both hot and cold water connections, so horizontal axis machines (like mine) don't have internal heating. – LShaver Oct 21 '21 at 13:23
  • Thank you for an extensive answer @Sursula. I especially like the point "The better distinction would be vertical axis (impeller and agitator) and horizontal axis". That answers it for me. – Robert Kusznier Nov 24 '21 at 14:29