Washing clothes at 20 degrees

[smashthesigns]

Should I change to washing our clothes at 20? Looking to save some money. I normally wash everything at 30 on a half wash (still 2 hours on our machine), but am wondering if it would be better to drop to 20. None of us are that grotty so I'm not worried about stains. My mum thinks I'm mad and everything will come out dirty, but then she washes everything at 60 and doesn't seem to be worried about her electricity bill.

Also if anyone does this what detergent do they use? Do some not work at low temperatures?

That USwitch advice is poor, it doesn't apply to all machines. My machine uses the most electricity and water on shorter washes. The manual also says that if you use the button to shorten the cycle times, not only does it use up even more water and electricity, but you can then only put half the weight in.

My most economical cycle is 4h30 at either 40 or 60. It's frustrating but I do things like put it on timer delay at night, or on wet days when I want clothes to dry when the radiators are on, I time it to finish for then. My second most efficient cycle is a 60min one which only takes half the drum weight, but I weighed a typical load of our clothes and if there's no heavy things like denim or big jumpers, then a full dark wash weighs half a load but nearly fills the drum, so I use that, as that is the maximum I can fit out to dry at once.

Read the manual, it's surprising which cycles are cheapest.

I wouldnt' buy a machine without a quick cold wash.

My machine has a 15 minute cold cycle- perfect for freshening up lightly soiled or delicate garments.

@Fairyliz

I don't know if I am just imagining this but I am sure that I read somewhere that Americans use cold water when they wash their clothes. Not sure if their machines are set up differently or they just choose a cold wash.

Don't know about America but all Japanese machines are cold only

@DramaAlpaca

Washing at 20° isn't going to get anything clean, and I only use 30° for very delicate things.

I wash towels, tea towels and bed linen at 60° and everything else at 40°.

This.

And I can’t see that the potential saving you’d be getting from going to 30 to 20 would be noticeable anyway.

Many countries cold wash their clothes as standard.

@speakout

Many countries cold wash their clothes as standard.

When I lived in Japan for two years you could only wash your clothes in cold water. It was never a problem.

Given washing your hands in cold water and soap is just as good as hot water and soap then 20 is fine for killing most bacteria with washing powder. I don’t think 30 makes much difference to water killing temperature but most bugs don’t survive laundry detergent

I saw an Ariel advert which said most of the energy used is in heating the water and so all their detergent now works at 20. My current box of Aldi no bio also says it’s fine T 20. I’m trying to use 20 more. The main issue with stains is we use non bio but if I had a troublesome stain I’d just prevtreat with some kind of vanish stick on the area.

When I lived in Japan for two years you could only wash your clothes in cold water. It was never a problem.

Same here- I lived in SE Asia, machines I used were all cold wash- my BIL lives in Italy, his machine is cold fill and doesnt have a heating element.
Cold wash is fairly standard the world over- I don't think people in other countries and germ stricken because they don't wash their clothes at 60 degrees.

Australians wash their clothes in cold water too. The obsession with 40/60 degrees is a UK quirk. Australia/US/Japan/Europeans aren’t wearing dirty clothes or getting sick from germs in their laundry.

I’m staggered. I’ve never washed below 60 apart from delicates. Had no idea!

I grew up washing in cold and half cringe every time I set the temp to 30 as we are told that hot washes degrade your clothes!

I wash wool and delicates on 20. Everything else on 30, but I use 40 for things like school uniform, underwear and anything that’s been worn a lot.

Towels and bedding at 60, or I find they smell a bit musty?

The only thing I boil wash (on 90) are rags that I use for cleaning. I know a lot of people prefer disposable wipes but I think a monthly boil wash of re-usable rags is more environmentally friendly than adding to landfill?

I have washed in cold water for 30 years.. Total waste washing everything at 60 degrees.

My laindry doesn't smell musty- but I line dry everything.

I dislike the smell from tumble dried clothes, rubbery/greasy/industrial whiff.

Not sure I'd want to wash my knickers or towels at 20, not that my washing machine has that setting anyway.

@Malteser71

I’m staggered. I’ve never washed below 60 apart from delicates. Had no idea!

I think my clothes would shrink if I washed at that temperature.

Towels and sheets on 60- meant to be good for the machine to do that weekly as it helps clean gunk.
Other stuff on 30 or 40

I wouldn't go to 20 as not sure it would save much money

@seaandsandcastles

Looking visually clean is not the same as being clean. If you’re washing at 20 your clothes aren’t going to be clean, and 30 is pushing it really.

If it looks and smells clean, then it’s clean, surely.

It sounds like some people on this thread are trying to sterilise their laundry. Unless your machine gets to 121°C and it’s actually an autoclave then your clothes are still going to have (harmless) bacteria and fungi on them, whatever the temperature of the wash.

Running a hot steam iron over clothes will do more to zap microorganisms, and in fact I do this for my reusable face mask after washing it. It’s the only thing that I that it’s reasonable to have “cleanliness” concerns about.

If you order washing powder from a country that does cold wash it should be fine

Or i think one of the gel ones works at 20 but it's pricier than powder. Possibly fairy?

Cold wash detergent is avalable everywhere in the UK- Ariel gel even says on the front of the bottle Brrr- Cold wash.

If you can just try and wear the same clothes around the house for as long as you can even if they get wiffy.

If you can just try and wear the same clothes around the house for as long as you can even if they get wiffy.

????

@Hellocatshome

Do quicker cycles not usually use MORE electric?

No

Ours does. I looked up the manual after another thread the other day & a longer wash uses less electricity and water.