Washing machine minute: Why the last minute on your washing machine sometimes seems much longer

Have you ever wondered why the last minute of your washing machine cycle seems to go on for eternity? Well, you wouldn’t be alone.

More and more people have jumped on the train of attempting to discover why the last minute on the washing machine is so long for some people and the answer is unexpected.

A woman named Bissy claimed in a TikTok video that her washing machine is ‘lying’ about the remaining cycle time.

Watch the video above.

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“This washing machine really had me believing it only had one minute left…,” she captioned the post that proved the final minute actually took four minutes.

Colin Jones, an expert from Appliances Online, explained to 9honey, “When you see ‘one’ on the display, it means there is just one minute left in the wash/spin cycle.

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“The remaining time can vary based on the specific cycle you’re using and the spin speed of the machine,” he said.

“Once the timer reaches zero, the machine will gradually slow down the spin and come to a stop. After a brief pause, the safety catch will unlock, allowing you to safely open the door.”

Jones explained that the one minute is generally correct, “provided everything is OK, the electronics in these modern machines may pick up an error such as overloading from too much detergent, which then forces the machine to rethink how to complete the cycle due to human error.”

The appliance expert also warns that overloading a machine can overload its balance at the final spin.

“If the load gets off-balanced, the machine will try to balance the load itself by either adding extra water, then doing a slow spin back and forward then slowly increasing the spin speed,” he said.

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“It may have said one minute; however, due to the overload and trying to rebalance the load, this may take longer.”

So next time you find yourself chucking on a load of laundry, make sure to use only a tablespoon or so of detergent and that the machine is no more than three quarters full.

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