Washing all clothes on cold?

[asblackasyoursoul]

Hi all, this may be a stupid question but me and my partner are having a debate over what temperature to do the washing at.

Like everyone else, we’re trying to save money on energy so partner thinks it’s totally fine to wash all laundry on a cold wash. I’m a bit dubious about this and think they should probably go on a hot wash.

So what do you all think? Is a cold wash just as efficient? Partners argument is that it makes no difference as to kill bacteria it would have to be a boil wash. Really not sure 🤔

I wash everything on 40 degrees

40 for whites
30 for darks
60 for white sheets with stains such as blood on them.

this antibacterial fad is a nonsense

Washing a blood stain with hot water will cook it in.

40° & line dry. No need for a dryer if they're washed properly and frequently enough.

Blood stains need cold water wash, hot water will set the stain.

It isn't good for the washing machine to just always be on cold washes I don't think? You ought to put the occasional 60 through I think. My machine demands this anyway. It's a mid range bosch and there is a red light by the cleaning cycle pretty frequently. Which is about 60 degrees.

I wouldn't put antibacterial crap onto my clothes. I would keep the machine clean instead.

That’s correct. I wash linen on 60 deg and pets bedding and whites. So my machine gets plenty of hot going through it.

I was just about to jump in with this. An ex Procter and Gamble chemist told me that 40 is the limit for biological powder /liquid so no point going higher.

I wash everything on a 30 degree 28 minute wash apart from my husbands work clothes which are heavily soiled and full of oil which I do on a longer hotter cycle.

I put a hefty squirt of white vinegar into the machine with the detergent and since I've been doing that I have noticed that all clothes smell so much fresher when they come out. I use white vinegar for loads around the house, it's supposed to be a natural disinfectant. Whether that's true or not I don't know, but it certainly helps make our clothes smell lovely. They don't smell at all of vinegar, just normal clean washing.

It has also helped to soak babygrows that have suffered the effects of a nappy explosion and removes the evidence.

Years ago I had an old Hotpoint that had an economy setting which I used all the time, not knowing what it was but thinking well yes I want to economise. After about six months I noticed things weren't really clean - it was cumulative. Turns out it was a cold wash setting. Maybe things have improved since then but my experience is that long term it's not great. The modern eco settings let you have higher temperatures but involve clothes sitting soaking rather than being agitated the whole time which I find does get things clean although it's a pain in the hoop having a machine going for three hours especially since it's a fire risk to leave them on while you're out.

I'm in NZ and it's common to use cold water here, straight out of the cold tap. It will be fine. My washing is always clean and my whites are white (and I wash them with light colours, not separately) and I am rarely ill.

Ordinary clothes on 30, whites and towels on 40.

I found same as @Franticbutterfly, ds's shirts need washing at 40 to get rid of sweat.

Clothes washed cold

Towels and bedding at 60

DD had a tummy bug last week and I washed her vomity clothes on cold with some Dettol laundry sanitizer.

Washing it in cold water does the sum total of nothing.

@aboutanidiot , I find a cool wash is fine on most clothes. I use the bio washing powder from Lidl, and line dry. If anything is obviously dirty, I soak it first. If it looks germy, I add disinfectant.

I was in France recently and a lot of their cleaning products are vinegar based. They worked really well. I tried it in a bottle with water a while ago and found the smell of vinegar was awful so I must be doing something g wrong!

Did you use white vinegar, @MidnightConstellation ?

I do everything on 30.

Yes I did. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong!

I do most things at 20 now but I use Ariel cold wash which is excellent at getting stuff clean, discovered it in lockdown and haven't gone back as it's far superior to anything else I've used.

@MidnightConstellation , it's a little smelly but it goes away quite quickly. You can add essential oil to mask the smell

Depends what your washing. Bath and dish towels that smell damp I use hot. Mix everyday stuff warm. Light barely soiled stuff cold.
twice a year bedding gets done on steam allergen setting super hot super long.

Pretty much everything gets a cold quick wash,30 minutes. DH was shocked, I'm old school,very fussy,if items weren't clean, I wouldn't do it. My towels are expensive embroidered, Sanderson,Dorma, cotton/silk mix, 40 max.

We use the eco 'intense cold' setting for our clothes (towels go on at 60). The clothes are clean. With new tech/washing powders I think the lower temps are fine.