• For your dryer's sake, two loads may be better than one.laundry image by timur1970 from Fotolia.com
  
  You just pulled a ton of laundry out of the washing machine, and it's time to dry. You put it all into the dryer, and it barely fits. If you squeeze it down just a bit, you can avoid doing a second load. As long as you get it to fit, it can't be a problem, right? Wrong. Overloading a dryer--whether electric or gas--past its capacity can put the dryer, your clothes and even yourself into harm's way.
  
  

Prolonging Drying Time

• When you overload the dryer, you're basically causing more work for the dryer to do in one session. This prolongs the time it takes to dry your load. Not only is this inefficient, but it also can damage your clothes. Integrated Publishing reports that overloading the dryer actually will dry out your clothes inefficiently and damage the fibers. Too much of this sort of damage, and you'll have faded colors and holes in your clothes sooner than normal.
  
  

Uneven Drying

• Maytag reports that overloading your dryer results in uneven drying. Because the clothes aren't able to tumble in the dryer as they were designed to, they don't get the full drying effect. There will be moist spots throughout the clothes, which may cause mold to grow and may cause skin irritations. It may also damage clothing and leave wrinkles.
  
  

Off-Balance Drum

• Your dryer was designed to take only so much damage. By overloading it, your dryer's drum may get thrown off balance. An occasional off-balance drum may be no harm, but doing this frequently will cause your dryer mechanical problems. Further, it can even cause marks and damage to your clothing.
  
  

Excess Lint

• Maytag's website reports that overloading your dryer can cause an excess of lint build-up. Even if you clean your lint trap right before the load, an overfilled dryer can cause the excess build-up before the first load is through. The danger is the fire hazard this poses. Lint can clog in your vent, and cause a vent fire.
  
  

Decreased Life of Dryer

• While drying full loads is good for your dryer, an overloaded dryer will ultimately cause the life of your dryer to shorten substantially. The damage to the drum, the lint vents and the stress of the prolonged drying time makes the dryer work extra hard. While it may take an extra hour to dry two loads, it may prolong the life of your dryer.
  
  

Carbon Dioxide Danger

• Nearly all the dangers of overloading dryers apply to both electric and gas dryers alike. However, gas dryers may have a tendency to build up carbon dioxide if not vented properly. Overloading a gas dryer, and thus making it run longer and inefficiently, could build up carbon dioxide in your home's atmosphere and thus pose a deadly poisoning hazard to yourself and your family.