Laundry treatment appliance and method of estimating drying time based on laundry load size

A laundry treatment appliance comprising:

• a cabinet;
• a tub positioned within the cabinet;
• a laundry basket rotatably mounted within the tub, the laundry basket defining a chamber for receipt of a laundry load for washing or drying;
• a heater configured to heat and remove moisture from air flowing through the laundry basket;
• a sensor positioned within the chamber, the sensor being configured to sense a quality of the laundry load;
• and
• a controller operably coupled to the heater and configured to initiate an operation, the operation comprising:
• detecting a load size of the laundry load at a completion of a recently performed washing cycle of the laundry load;
• obtaining a plurality of operational parameters from the recently performed washing cycle of the laundry load;
• determining a maximum drying cycle length of time for the laundry load based on the detected load size and the plurality of operational parameters;
• storing the determined maximum drying cycle length of time for the laundry load within a memory on board the laundry treatment appliance;
• and
• initiating a drying cycle, wherein a completion of the drying cycle is determined according to a hierarchy, the hierarchy comprising the quality of the laundry load sensed by the sensor followed by the maximum drying cycle length of time.