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?

@speakout

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

????

To save money

I have started adding dettol laundry cleanser to my wash. I recently changed to a 30 degree wash for time purposes but found polyester T-shirt’s and football kit were not clean enough, the laundry cleanser helps as it kills the bacteria

I use the 30° 25 minute quick wash on mine because that's what the manual says is the most eco. The clothes are always clean and fresh smelling. I use 60° for towels and bedding

Nope. Wear everything apart from socks and underwear at least twice before washing, get clothes properly dirty and wash on a higher temperature (min. 40) is my advice.

@Sugarplumfairy65 what machine is that? Is that with a full load?

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

In the U.K.? I’m in the sunny south east but even here it’s too humid much of summer to dry clothes outside and rains too often in spring and autumn. I’ve tried hanging sheets out at 6am but they’re still damp by dusk, so unless I leave them on the line for days they don’t dry.

I drive everything on racks with a dehumidifier, it’s dry by morning. Only use the tumble drier for duvets or to fluff up towels.

I wash all clothes on 30 and then towels/bedding goes on 60. I don't think 20 is enough, really.

Towels always 90 deg
bedding 60 deg
clothes 40 deg unless label says otherwise
Laundry ends up clean and washing machine stays clean too

@smashthesigns

It’s a huge saving but you can’t use the wrong detergent.

You must use Ariel.

It’s built for low temps

My friend works in the industry.

So weird - lots of countries including Australia and New Zealand have cold wash as the norm. We rarely if ever washed in warm or hot temps and never got accused of having dirty/smelly/unhygienic clothes, sheets or towels. And these are countries with lots of dirty clothes-producing outdoors sports including rugby. A good soak first might be needed for very muddy or grass stained stuff but you'd find that if washing hotter too. Cold temps are also better for clothes and for electricity use.

If truly worried about bacteria for things like underwear or tea towels, just soak items in extra hot water if that makes you feel better (though a bit of very diluted bleach in cold water is probably more effective).

Eco-washes on newer machines generally use a lot less electricity but do take a ridiculous amount of time. Depends on how many loads you want to do in a day and the time you have to wait.

@Gerwurtztraminer

The right detergent kills bacteria what ever the temp due to its chemical structure

[quote Cascascascas]@smashthesigns

It’s a huge saving but you can’t use the wrong detergent.

You must use Ariel.

It’s built for low temps

My friend works in the industry.[/quote]
What rubbish!
Aries is not the only detergent you can use

Way too many people worried about normal germs and bacteria - they are everywhere in your house all the time and certainly the tiny levels left after a washed load with detergent won't affect your health. Washing your hands frequently will be more effective in preventing illness than increasing your wash temp.

@Getoutofbed25 you can get a specialised sports wash designed for synthetic fabrics, does help remove the tendency to whiffiness and smells better than Dettol.

@Cascascascas Loads of brands say suitable for cold water, I'm using a Fairy one at the moment

@ user1471447863 To keep the machine clean it's better to do an occasional empty hot wash with vinegar or a washing machine cleaner to remove detergent and limescale build up.

@Getoutofbed25

I have started adding dettol laundry cleanser to my wash. I recently changed to a 30 degree wash for time purposes but found polyester T-shirt’s and football kit were not clean enough, the laundry cleanser helps as it kills the bacteria

Halo sports wash is good for smelly gym/football kit

I wash most stuff at 30...towels at 40/50/60 depending on how dirty they are. Always use laundry cleanser if washing at 30. I wouldn't do a twenty wash unless it was all outer clothes which weren't very dirty

@Porridgeislife

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!

Is a cold wash 30? But is the use detergent they use in cold wash countries not worse dor the environment? Presumably it needs to be "stronger". Adding antibacterial detergent to your wash isn't great.

No a cold wash is exactly that, cold. Hot water fades your clothes & degrades the fibres faster.

Detergent isn’t different. Persil is called OMO in Australia. We have a choice of bio or non-bio detergent. We don’t use antibacterial wash!

Some Americans wash clothes in cold water with dry detergent, but it’s not effective. In hard water areas, you can scrape the detergent from the dry clothes with the back of a table knife. Even wool should be washed on 30.

I wash all mine in cold water using morrisons or aldi detergent. (prefer aldi)

This has been interesting! It's never really occurred to me to be that worried about the bacteria on my clothes outside of when someone is sick - surely any bacteria on my clothes has already been in contact with my skin/coats/sofa/things I don't wash that often. I always thought of washing clothes as being more about keeping them fresh from sweat and oils and removing stains. seems I'm grottier than I thought!

I'm wfh tomorrow on my own so I may do what was suggested and watch the smart meter while doing some washes on different settings.

My machine has a dozen different programs and every temperature from cold to 90deg in 10deg increments along with a a coupler of spin speeds. They are all there for a reason I'm sure rather than there just being a single 'start' button and you getting what you get.

Cold fill to my machine would typically be ...15 degrees? Is 15 what you all mean by cold wash?

We buy colour (bio) deterg which I understand to be optimised to work best at about 32 degrees C.

The cost of electricity for a hot was is not great.

Ours runs the heater for about 10-12 minutes for a 60C cotton wash

So 3kW x 10 ÷ 60 = 0.5kWh

At 17p per kWh is 8.5p

So you would save a few pence with a colder wash.

Tumble driers use much more.

Everything gets washed at 30c, with a detergent suitable for a cold wash and some laundry sanitiser. If it's heavily soiled, it's pre-soaked or stain treated. It all gets hung out to dry. Nothing is pongy and my health is robust and my electricity bill is low.

I'd say most everyday wear can be done at 20°c especially the likes of denim. Ariel is great for removing stains even at low temperatures, however when it comes to underwear I usually do those on a 50/60°c but bedding, towels & bath mats get done on a 90°c antibacterial wash.