It’s a common problem to have an odd number of socks. But is it true that the washing machine has an insatiable hunger for socks and swallows them up? The truth is that it can – in rare cases. Socks can get caught in the seal on the door during the wash. In some machines they can then be pulled into the inside of the appliance through a gap in this rubber lip, explains Joshua Jahn, energy consultant at a German consumer advice centre. According to Jahn, socks and other small items of clothing can end up inside the machine, for example in the heating coil. Trying to save them is usually hopeles…