to use the 30 degree super express wash for nearly everything?

[everythingsgoingsouth]

my clothes aren't dirty, just worn once, or PJs 2-3 times.
towels and bedding I'd still wash at 60, normal wash.

does the 30 express wash really...wash?

Doesn't a 60° wash wreck underwear and clothing when their washing instructions state 40°?

I use quick wash at 30° for everything except whites (40° + scoop Vanish) and nothing comes out smelly - if you're using bio powder it'll remove bacteria etc according to Good Housekeeping.

Maybe I've been doing it all wrong for the past 45 years 😱

I do everything on a 40 eco wash that takes 1 hour 40 mins. Used to do the quick wash until I found out how much more water it uses. I've not noticed any difference in the cleanliness of my clothes.

In terms of getting rid of bacteria etc it's the same as any form of cleaning, the act of using water, detergents and the cleaning motion has more to do with getting rid of bacteria than tempersture does.

I lived in the US for ages. All washes ( bar towels) are done in cold water.

if the shirts are cotton, they should be fine at 60.

the quick 20 min wash is great for the lunch bags

I'm not bothered about bacteria - if it smells and looks clean that's good enough for me. I used to use the medium (1 1/2 hr) 40 wash for everything as clothes came out smelly at 30. But then discovered that a long 30C wash is fine, because the enzymes in the washing powder have time to work. So when I have time I do the 2 1/2 hr at 30 to be eco-friendly. I run a 60 with machine-cleaner occasionally or the washing machine gets stinky.

I think I must be particularly smelly though - there's no way I would be able to wear a t-shirt again after wearing for a whole day as a PP suggested!

Most things here are washed at 40 degrees on the 1 hr daily wash function. Towels and bedding are normally washed at 60 degrees on the same program.

DS (6) usually has clean clothes daily as he is a muck magnet. DH and I wear things at least twice unless we are doing something very sweaty or get something down them. My worn clothes go over the end of the bed and are reword either the next day or within a day or two.

I do this too. But I don't think it cleans the clothes quite as much as a longer wash. It does however, save energy and I find it keeps the clothes in better condition.

I was every day and do my laundry every day in small amounts.
I hate having a big load to do once a week so for me it's perfect.

I always wash bed clothes and stained things for longer.

There was another thread like this a while back and it actually made me return to doing washing at 4 not 30, and using bio powder instead of non bio. Mind you, my 40 wash still only takes an hour and 10 mins. My machine is triple A efficient or whatever the top rating is. It's old now though so maybe they've improved further.

I am loving this thread! I do a lot of stuff at 30 and 40 and it comes out smelling great, I use the bold two in one stuff cos I love the smell. But when I use the same powder on a 60 wash, once a week for towels and bedding, undies and socks, the wash is really clean but smells a bit manky. Anyone else gets this on a hotter wash? Maybe it's my machine?

Ooh, the chance to share my washing system!

Things that the kids have peed/puked on: 60 degree 2hr wash
Dry clean and hand wash only: 30 degree wool cycle (if you can't survive the washing machine you have no place in our house)
Favourite skirt that my kid wants to wear 2 days out of 3: express wash, usually at 6am when I suddenly remember it's not clean.
Everything else: 45 degree 1hr wash

Scratching head at the logic of a pp washing towels at 50-60 degrees but tea towels at 30

When I was in Austria recently we had an Airbnb with a washer, and they had provided special laundry disinfectant - not bleach, disinfectant. And it was great! You could wash clothes on a lower temperature and be sure they were clean.

Is such a thing available in the UK?

TendonQueen New machines just seem to get slower and slower.

My first washing machine did a 40 wash in 70 minutes. My 'new' one takes nearly 2.5 hours for the same cycle.

I say 'new' because it's 10 years old and part of me is waiting for it to break so I can buy a new one with a shorter 40 wash.

I've heard good things about Miele and they're not always as stupidly expensive as I thought so might look at one of those (I thought they were about £1k but apparently you can get more basic models for around £500 which I would pay if they were quicker or did a better wash than my usual £300 Zanussis.

Just thought I'd mention that we got blocked drains quite frequently and the drains man said that a lot of blocked drains are caused nowadays by people using cheaper powders on low temps, the powder doesn't dissolve well enough and causes a build up. I switched from the aldi powder, which I was more than happy with, and it hasn't happened since. Might be just a coincidence. I had noticed that the aldi powder sometimes left a residue on clothes washed on a 30 cycle though.

It's interesting that in the US they use cold water washes mostly, as mentioned up thread.
It's also interesting to note that I don't think any other nation differentiates between bio and non bio powder.

Personally I find that nothing seems to get clean anymore. Washing powders seem to be rubbish now. What happened to 'so white it's blue'?

Mine has a 59 min 60 degree wash that can be changed to 40 degrees. I use that when I put washing on overnight. Otherwise I use the 30 min 30 degree wash. Haven't died from laundry bacteria so far.
No idea what the three hour long cycles are meant to be for, I don't have the patience to hang around that long for washing.

SusannahD has nailed it, many clothes (a) have BO smell in armpit and (B) are 40/30 C wash

so what then? hmmm?

I don't even smell and yet despite all most of my summer gear is faintly armpitty - fucks me off

Stick some zoflora in the fabric softener bit when washing smelly clothes. Kills bacteria and leaves a nice smell

For anyone who's struggling with that lingering, baked-on man pit smell, try splashing white vinegar on the arm pits before washing, it's worked wonders for my clothes and doesn't seem to have an effect on the colour (sadly I'm speaking from my own experience, I think I could out-man most men for sweatiness, my dh smells of roses and cotton wool next to me in the summer ) That's washing at 40 too.

I use the 40c quick wash for most apart from towels and bedding. Works fine!

I may be wrong, but I believe in the USA they use the cool wash a lot because they add bleach to the wash to kill the germs (and the colour!) I think this is why Dettol has jumped on the bandwagon and brought out a laundry bleach over here.

30 degrees is not hot enough to kill bacteria.

I use 40 degrees for delicates otherwise 50 or 60 degrees except tea towels which every now and again I do at 90.

And none of the cycles are longer than 90 mins.

One of my children has the armpitty clothes problem probably doesn't use enough deodorant or even remember to put it on every day and best cure I have found is to dampen with cold water and rub in a little anti bacterial washing up liquid or dettol hand soap before washing. And wash on 40 minimum with bio powder.

I wash undercrackers with tea towels and dish cloths at 40 degrees so probably shouldn't be on this thread.

Yet no one has yet died in the house of Gobbler despite the probable constant contamination of my tea towels with the much feared faecal particle.

For the nappy years of my kids I used to wash poo covered nappies with towels and yes tea towels and dish cloths again at 40 and yet here we all are walking around.

For much of that time I was going through an eco ball phase or maybe soap nuts? So I wasn't even using detergent I eventually discovered that they don't really get out grass or blood stains (or any stains....) so now use Method which is both green and very effective.

People wash clothes in rivers ffs, we are both spoilt and terrified in equal measure, but still it keeps us buying a fuck load of unnecessary shite.

Armpittyness can be dealt with by a pre soak in white vinegar

gobblers common or garden bacteria aren't a problem. But if someone suffers from thrush or bv regularly they will just keep reinfecting themself unless their pants/bath towels etc are nuked.
Anyone with open skin lesions such as various types of eczema might also want to wash at higher temp and rinse more to reduce residue of detergent. It's not about running shrieking from any form of dirt, more about recognising that some things, in some circumstances, need a hot wash.

You'd not want a hospital to be using a 40 degree wash on sheets for example.,