How Much Water Does a Washing Machine Use Per Load?

What one load adds to your water bill

Those gallons cover the complete wash, including rinses. We'd start with the washer type and the selected cycle, because both can change the total before there's any fault to find. A waterline tells you how the load looks during washing, not how many gallons went through the machine.

For normal loads, compare gallons across washer designs and measure your own cycle. A washer that keeps filling or overflows needs the washing machine troubleshooting checks.

The $5 to $20 rate is an illustration, not your utility's rate. Look at the volume charges for both water and sewer on your bill. A fixed service fee stays on the bill even when a load uses fewer gallons.

Gallons per complete load by washer type

A full-size efficient washer uses about 14 gallons per load in a broad comparison, beside 20 gallons for a standard washer. Within either group, design, capacity and settings change the result. The EPA's washer comparison (opens in a new tab) also shows why a newer conventional top-loader and an older inefficient one shouldn't be treated as the same machine.

Seven gallons is a low-end example reached by some front-load HE washers. It isn't the amount to expect from every front-loader. The position of the lid doesn't identify whether a top-loader is HE.

Why your load uses a different amount

A front-loader tumbles clothes through shallow water. An efficient top-loader moves the load through a reduced amount of water, while load sensing adjusts the fill to the laundry. Age, drum capacity and the size of the load also matter, so compare similar loads in machines of similar capacity.

Deep Fill or Deep Water adds wash water when the cycle offers it. A bulky-item cycle can fill in stages, and an added or deeper rinse uses more water than the same cycle without it. A pause followed by another fill on a bulky cycle can be normal; compare it with another bulky load before treating that pattern as a fault.

We'd choose the cycle for the fabric and soil, leave the clothes loose enough to move, and save extra water or rinses for loads whose results show they need them. Fabrics absorb water, so even a low visible level won't tell you the gallons used. The useful result is laundry that became wet, moved during washing, and came out clean and rinsed.

Work out your yearly water and sewer cost

Multiply gallons per complete load by loads per week and then by 52. Divide those annual gallons by 1,000 and multiply by your combined water and sewer rate per 1,000 gallons. At an illustrative $10 combined rate, a 20-gallon load adds 20 cents in volume charges.

That's an annual difference of about $16 at this load count and rate. To price your own loads, use the water and sewer volume charges on your bill, including the rate for the tier your next gallons fall into. Charlotte Water's rate schedule (opens in a new tab) shows separate volume charges and fixed fees.

This calculation covers water and sewer volume charges. Fixed fees remain outside it, and heating wash water adds a separate energy cost. A utility may calculate sewer charges differently from water charges, so use each bill line that changes with consumption.

Find the gallons your washer actually uses

You have two routes. In the ENERGY STAR Certified Clothes Washers Product Finder, search your model number and read “Annual Water Use (gallons/yr).” Divide that figure by the annual test loads stated for its test basis to get a test average. Many listings using the Appendix J2 test basis use 295 cycles a year. Confirm that test count before dividing, since another test basis uses 234; the result still won't predict a particular setting or load.

For the load in front of you, use the household water meter. A shared meter that includes other apartments can't isolate one apartment's wash.

1. Find the meter's units and its smallest readable digits. It may show gallons, cubic feet or CCF, meaning hundreds of cubic feet. Record the full reading immediately before starting a load, with all other household water uses off.
2. Run one complete wash and rinse cycle. Keep other water uses off, then record the meter immediately when the cycle finishes.
3. Subtract the first reading from the second, including decimal digits. A gallon reading gives you gallons directly. Multiply a cubic-foot difference by 7.48, or a CCF difference by 748.

For example, a rise of 2.0 cubic feet is about 15 gallons. If the reading appears unchanged, inspect the meter's smaller digits or dial: a whole-CCF bill reading is too coarse to show one ordinary load.

If the difference looks implausibly high, compare it with the estimate for your washer design in the type table, then repeat the same load and cycle with every other water use off. When the meter moves even with the washer and all other fixtures idle, test for a household leak before assigning those gallons to laundry.

If the washer seems to use too much

First, compare like with like. Note the load size, cycle, water-level selection, Deep Fill and rinse choices. For a similar load on the same cycle, select Auto Sensing and turn off Deep Fill and an unneeded Extra Rinse. Repeat the meter measurement. A lower reading with those options off explains the difference.

If the concern began with poor cleaning at a shallow fill, look at the laundry before adding water. Remove items from a tightly packed load, choose the cycle suited to the fabric and soil, and measure the dose of HE detergent when your washer requires it. On the next load, clothes should become wet, move and finish clean without detergent residue. Pouring water into a low-water impeller wash can make clothes float above its wash action.

For an unexpectedly high meter reading, stop all household water use and record the meter. Read it again after two hours with every fixture and appliance off. If it moved, close the washer's accessible hot and cold supply valves while everything else stays off. Movement that stops or slows points to the washer supply branch; continued movement sends you to other fixtures. Don't force a stuck valve. The City of Minneapolis's fixture-isolation advice (opens in a new tab) uses the same one-valve-at-a-time test.

1. If the washer repeatedly fills while water leaves through the drain, stop the cycle and inspect the visible drain hose without opening the cabinet. Look for a submerged end, a kink, a fallen loop or a hose pushed far into the standpipe.
2. For a standpipe, 39 inches from the floor is a common minimum height, and 8 inches is a common maximum hose insertion. Measure both and confirm your washer's limits in its installation instructions. Keep the hose end above standing water and the connection open to air.
3. Straighten a kink and secure the hose with its guide or tie without sealing the standpipe. Make sure the supply valves are open and run a supervised test cycle. When the position is right, the washer retains water until its drain phase, and the hose and standpipe stay dry on the outside. If it still drains while filling or leaks, stop the test and close both supply valves.

If water is on the floor, locate where the washer is leaking before another load.

If abnormal fill remains after the settings, load, meter and visible drain-hose checks, the owner job is over. Contact the maker's warranty service or a qualified appliance repair technician with the make and model, cycle and options, load size, meter readings and units, any leak or error code, warranty status, and whether water enters while powered off or drains during filling. A leaking household supply shutoff needs a plumber.

A diagnostic visit without an accepted repair runs $70 to $150. Professional inlet-valve replacement runs $95 to $300, and pressure-switch water-level repair runs $100 to $250; an electronic sensor or control-board fault can be a different job. Ask whether the diagnostic fee is credited toward the repair. Part type, access and travel affect the quote.

The installed prices include the washer, a new hose pair and basic independent installation; the final row also includes separate old-unit removal. Installed prices include a new hose pair and $100 to $175 for labor at existing hookups; separate removal adds $50 to $150. Separately billed delivery or new hookups raise the bill. Compare the repair quote with the installed replacement price, then weigh the washer's age and warranty.

Questions about washer water use