Washing machine mystery
Socks really disappear in the washing machine!
It’s magical: sometimes socks disappear in the washing machine. We’ll show you where you can find them again.
It’s not your fault, washing machines actually eat socks – because we can’t keep an eye on that corner of the machine!
The black hole for socks: What happens every time you wash them?
The same problem over and over again when sorting laundry: The socks are clean but incomplete. As if the pickiest Bermuda Triangle in the world specialized only in socks, one pair remains incomplete every time they are washed. At least.
Most of us shrug our shoulders, chalk it up to some strange quirk of the universe, and hope that the sock magically reappears in the wash after next.
But now it turns out that the universe has nothing to do with it – the culprit is someone completely different!
Tumble dryer innocent: The washing machine snaps shut!
For years, sock loss was generally attributed to the dryer, probably because many a lint filter is subsequently filled with textile remnants that could roughly correspond to a destroyed sock. But of course that’s totally unfair, the poor tumble dryer wants what’s best for you, not your socks. No, it’s more like that washing machinewho strikes mercilessly and has been blaming her neighbor for years.
How exactly does the sophisticated machine do this? There is a rubber seal with an extra-wide edge directly on the round washing machine door, which prevents liquids from leaking out during each wash cycle. Occasionally, when loading or washing, it can happen that a sock gets caught in this rubber lip – and is suddenly pushed deeper and deeper into the seal, from where it never emerges again (because no one would ever look for it there).
In severe cases, this can even harm your machine: the “swallowed” socks are often pushed past the washing drum and end up inside the machine – until they get caught on a heating rod and dissolve there over time.
Protects socks and the machine: less laundry
This sock damage happens particularly quickly when the machine is overloaded with too much laundry. It is therefore advisable to proceed with a sense of proportion even in the event of acute laundry shortages – and not simply stuff the entire huge stack into the machine until even water and detergent can barely fit in.
And: A thin bag into which you put socks and other small items of laundry is the best guarantee that everything that ends up in the machine actually comes out again!