Washing at 40 or cold is not a good idea

[Stangerthings]

There is an advert for washing clothes in cold water. I think this is wrong. I washed a load of towels at 40 degrees and had to wash them again as they smelled dirty so how is a cold wash going to remove bacteria?

Or the no touch detmold soap dispenser in case of getting bacteria from it 😂 just before washing your hands anyway.. that obviously died a death! Must hoover my room and wash my bedlinen! ☺

Apparently you have (and need!!) 1.6 trillion bacteria on an average persons skin (new need them so don’t start washing in antiseptic people!) so a few left overs on your clean towels will not hurt you.

Hang them up on an outside line if it helps: sunlight kills bacteria (is this true) and fresh air will freshen.

I wash nearly everything at 40. Towels and bedding at 60, occasionally, if I remember/make a point of changing it from the standard 40 degrees setting, to 60. Takes 51 minutes. Been working perfectly for the last 20 years.

This

I only wash at 40 or less and nothing smells. You can use a bought washing machine cleaner or use washing soda which is cheaper.

i tend to wash at 30 unless something is particularly dirty. I do rum a washing machine cleaner through my machine every 2 months though. dirt machines are often the cause of a problem.

I would only bother with a hot wash for sicky laundry, whites that I really want to keep white

A poster on another thread pointed out that if your white contain man made fibres washing them too hot melts some of the fibres and makes them more prone to greying. I’ve settled on a white wash at 40 because of this - still not convinced no kind of heat is necessary for whites! I can’t break the habit!

Because soap kills bacteria. We dont needs support hot water. Not for clothes or for hands

that’s my understanding too. Heat helps to remove oil residue but it’s not completely necessary. Now I’ve binned off the dryer 90% of the time I’m ironing more which I’m sure provides some sort of ‘sterilisation’.

It’s probably poor drying that is causing the smell.

I think we're in agreement 😁

Using soap when you wash your hands creates friction and lifts off dirt and germs.

FFS what a smart arse comment about leprosy - if you're happy washing towels at 30 or 40 degrees then carry on. The other benefit to washing towels at a higher temperature is that you shouldn't need to run machine cleaning washes as often.

Good grief, we are all surrounded by millions, trillions of microscopic bacteria, viruses, fungi including our skin and internal organs. Only a very tiny proportion of those are pathogens, “germs” to humans, and your immune system deals with them without you even realising.
I don’t know where this hysteria about sterilising everything comes from. Marketing I suppose.

Same here. Towels, tea-rowels and bedding at 40; most a clothing (unless hacky!) 30.

Never had anything smelling unpleasant.

Yep, companies will do anything to sell their products.

It always surprises me how many people seem to anti-bac absolutely everything they own!

Using soap when you wash your hands creates friction and lifts off dirt and germs.

That’s what happens when the washing machine agitates the clothes.

Absolutely this.

If someone in the house has a virus or parasite infection and you don’t want it to spread, if you’ve been wiping something like raw chicken or dog poo or anything that.

I wash almost everything at 30! Towels and bedding I wash at 40. I have zero issues with smell here. Are you drying properly?? We have tumble dryer and I don’t put anything away until bone dry. I suspect your issue is damp! Are you using enough detergent? I also add a dose of Sanytol to most washes; it’s a disinfectant/anti bac supplement. Like vanish. Also I don’t use softener.. I notice zero difference since stopping softener!! X

This is definitely something to do with your machine, the cycle you used or your detergent. I'm sure the towels didn't 'smell dirty' when you put them in, so something went wrong during the wash.

40° is definitely warm enough to clean used towels.

What do you think washing machines do then? 😂

Exactly!

RBH I think the reason that so many children suffer from allergies, eczema etc is because we are destroying out natural immunity by over-frequent sterilising when it isn't necessary.

TBH, not RBH

Fat fingers

Sounds like a drying issue to me. I wash towels at 60 because mine tend to smell damp too, but then dry them partly in the air and partly in the tumble drier. So long as they aren't left in the air too long, they smell fine. They also go soft again.

(also note, don't use softener when you wash towels)

BTW soap works by disrupting the cell membrane of bacteria, regardless of temp. Otoh temp denatures the enzymes inside the bacteria.
And soap is soap, there is no difference between hand soap and shower gel for eg (have had this disagreement in our house many times!)

Not everything needs it obviously but sometimes you want to make sure things are actually clean and don’t just seem it.

Why are you wiping raw chicken or dog poo on towels?

I usually wash towels at 40. My towels aren't smelly. But I do line dry all year round which probably makes the difference. A breeze and even a smattering of UV light helps.

What do you think happens in a washing machine?

You think towels are breeding grounds for illness causing bacteria. I'm seriously asking for some articles demonstrating the spreading of disease in the UK from cold washed towels. Can you show me please?