Can you overload your washer?

Well the answer is yes and no.  The complication is what machine do you have.  Some machines today are equipped to handle 18 pairs of jeans when others can only handle a hand full.  Machines that have transmissions in them like your old style agitator washers most likely can't handle as much as today's commercial and front loading machines.   Transmissions end up wearing down quickly with large loads and can cause parts of the machine to malfunction.  On the other hand a front loading machine or top load machine that provides the new style motors and assemblies don't have transmissions and therefore wear and tear doesn't happen as often.  

Many companies and Technicians might tell you that you're overloading the machine, when in reality you've loaded it like that for years.  Now all of sudden you can't load it like that anymore? That's not the case at all, many things in our lives like our cars or houses have wear and tear from natural sources of use.  As one of our friends calls it an Environmental problem. Nothing is made to last forever.  So next time a technician or anyone tells you that the problem that occurs was because you overloaded when you've packed in your clothes like this for years he's only trying to give you an excuse.   Materials fall apart and every appliance, car, electrical outlet, plumbing line, or HVAC unit will have to be fixed at sometime in its life and it's not because it was overloaded.

Now we switch to the other answer, yes you are overloading it.  Sometimes laundry invades our lives and it gets a little overwhelming.  So we throw everything in the washer at once and hope to do one cycle.  Now if this is not your normal operation and it messes up well you might have overloaded it.  Take some clothes out and start over.  If you have a high end appliance that measures the weight of the machine and the torque of the motor and it states that you are overloading it, well then you're overloading it.  Take out some clothes and start over.  If you just bought a brand new machine and you're loading it full of all the laundry that's been laying around for days and the machine stops and flashes a code it might be overloaded.  

So simply put if you've had a washer for years and you've loaded it the same for years then it's not gonna change even after a repair.  But if you just got an urge to throw everything in at the same time or you have a new machine with electronic controls then overloading is very possible.