My washer is a hunk of junk, and will often stop right as the spin cycle is beginning, and then just give up on the whole load, leaving me with a washer full of soaking wet clothes. It refuses to do anything else until the wet clothes are removed.
When I put these clothes in the dryer, they are soaking wet. Not wet like they are at the end of a spin cycle; wet with water dripping off of them.
Other than the fact that it takes quite a bit longer to get them dry, I’ve noticed no ill effects. Is it bad for clothes, in either the short term or the long term, to be put in a dryer when soaking wet?
I can’t speak for the clothes, but that’s a lot more strain then your dryer is designed for, at least on a regular basis.
It’s more work for the motor (which will probably be fine). You’re probably going to wear out the belt sooner then you normally would with all the extra weight. Also, since you run it for (I’d guess) twice as long, the other internal components will wear out sooner as well (bearings will start to squeal, sensors will stop working, metal parts might start to rust, timers will break).
I’m going to guess your washing machine is one with a dial on the top. I’d wager that the dial just needs to be replaced. You might want to look into replacing that.
If that’s beyond you, or the price of the part is close to the price of a new washing machine you might want to replace the washing machine before you ruin the dryer as well.
ETA BTW, have you tried just nudging the dial ahead a bit? It’s probably just hitting a bad spot and that might get it moving again. If nothing else, I’d at least put it in one of the other spin cycles on the knob to get the clothes dry.
I know very little about repairing appliances. However, I had this issue with my washer, too - a Frigidaire.
With mine, the issue was the door latch sensor. The sensor wasn’t working properly, which would cause the washer, at the time it got to the spin cycle (for some reason), to think the door wasn’t closed and it would stop.
The part was about $25 and I replaced it easily (with the help of a YouTube video).
I’d investigate fixing the washer, as Joey P suggested, before destroying the dryer. If it’s the dial, as Joey suggested, or the door sensor, both are easy fixes.
On some machines they’ll work with the door open until the spin cycle, then they’ll stop and wait for you to close the door. But since yours still thought the door was open, that’s when it stopped.
The problem for your dryer is the weight of these soaking wet clothes. It is putting extra strain on the drum motor, bearing and belt.
This strain is going to greatly shorten the useful life of your dryer. And you are using a lot more energy/electricity to dry out all of the water that should have been spun off in the washer.
Perhaps the washing machine stopped prematurely because the load is unbalanced? I’ve used some that would do that, although there was usually an indicator light or such to tell you to rebalance the load. Once I did that, it would continue the spin cycle.
In case it’s the door sensor, a quick and dirty workaround can be to lift the lid all the way and drop it – the jolt can be enough to trip the sensor into the “closed” position.
It’s a Whirlpool Duet front-loading machine. Some cursory googling reveals that the dreaded F-11 code that I’m getting is commonplace with this model, and is a problem only a tech can solve.
They HeyHomie method of solving this problem is to shut the breaker off, causing the door locking mechanism to reset, and then turn the breaker back on. It’s a bit of a brute-force solution, but whatever works.
Or. …stick a pencil in the hole where the lid switch is activated. If washer resumes spin switch lever is bent down a little. Sometimes lever can be bent back up.
If there’s a floor drain near, put a cloths basket or hamper upside down over it. Pile the wet cloths on it and let them drip until they are substantially lighter - about an hour?
If no drain, get a portable babies bath (or anything similar). Put something over it that’s not solid; a child/pet gate, a piece of plastic (vinyl) lattice. Put the cloths on there.
THEN put the cloths in the dryer.
But…
Isn’t it moot since you HAVE to reset the machine to finish draining the water?!?