Australians are frequently underfilling their washing machines according to Samsung’s head of home appliances Mike Lilly. In response, the brand is encouraging people tackle bigger loads with a new super-sized machine.

“Research indicates that Australians don’t always manage their washing loads based on the full capacity or capability of their washing machines as nearly one third of washing loads run at less than 50 per cent of the machine’s capacity,” Lilly said, referring to research published in the May 2012 in the Lonergan Average Wash Load Capacity Report.

“This means that many Australians are running more laundry loads than necessary.”

The latest washer dryer combo from Samsung has been dubbed an ‘Ultra Large Capacity’ machine. Launched this week, the 10kg washer and 8kg dryer combination front loader is capable of washing up to 15kg on the PowerBubble cycle.

Lilly added that customer feedback has made it clear that load size is an important factor for shoppers.

Samsung have also thrown in a load of smart features such as Wi-Fi which allows some functions to be control by smartphone, for example starting and stopping the washer and checking that the cycle is finished.

It also has vibration reduction technology and an automatic detergent dispenser that calculates the ideal amount of detergent based on the weight of the load.

Dominic Wong, EHP category manager for fabric care has also commented that in general people underfill their machines, especially front loaders.

“This is due to consumers believing that they are over-filling the machine if they cram their clothes in – not appreciating the fact that the clothes will move more freely when wet and trapped air is exhausted after washing begins,” Wong said.

Yesterday Panasonic provided tips to guide shoppers to the right sized machine based on the statistic that on average Australians do 32kg of washing a week.

The Samsung Ultra Large Capacity Washing Machine Combo has an RRP of $3,999 and is available in selected stockists now.