In my Riverside ranch house, I used to treat the dryer like a suitcase: if the door shut, the load fit. The thinking was simple. Drying one big load felt thriftier than drying smaller loads, so I filled the drum as far as it would go. As of mid-September, here in California, I still have to resist that reflex when a basket of laundry is waiting.
Riverside Public Utilities advises using clothes dryers in the morning or after 8pm. That is useful to know when I decide when to run mine, but it is a different decision from how tightly I pack it. A morning load can be crowded just as easily as one I put in later.
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What ENERGY STAR says
ENERGY STAR puts the load-size problem plainly: “Drying too large of a load will cause it to take longer to dry.” That makes me pause at the point where I would normally push in another handful of clothes. Fitting them all through the door is not the same as giving them room to dry…