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Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

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Original poster

So how many of you wash at 30 degrees now?

71 replies

IvanaDK · 30/11/2009 18:20

It's global warming people and we're all supposed to wash our clothes at 30 degrees now, not 40 or 60.

But do you do it?

I only started recently, and I was quite surprised to ind that the clothes still got clean. My neighbor admitted to over filling the machine and boiling everything and it just made me feel that I had to do my part ;)

I do still wash mine and DHs bed linen at 60 as he has dust mite allergies.

OP posts:

Sputnik · 02/12/2009 21:35

Always have wahsed at 30, except whites which go at 40. Everything comes out clean, if there is something that looks like staining I'll treat it first.
You also only need half the amount of detergent they tell you to use.

Clothes and colours last longer this way too.

Heathcliffscathy · 02/12/2009 21:40

agreed sputnik. altho i do sheets at 30 degrees with a bit of whitener and they are pristine.

very much agree with halving the detergent amount.

Kaloki · 02/12/2009 21:41

I've always washed at 30 unless it's really really icky (eg. stuff from the rats cage)

Ingles2 · 02/12/2009 21:45

I wash all clothes at 30, have done for years. Have to do sheets and towels at 60 though thanks to worms.

SausageRocket · 02/12/2009 21:52

no, only for delicates.

30 ime just doesn't get the stains off or the deodrant marks etc. Waste of time.

KitchenKate · 03/12/2009 12:53

Generally I try to wash at 30 unless its white or really dirty. I feel the need to wash towels and bedding on higher too. I guess it depends on the spec of your machine and your detergent that determine its effectiveness.

teatotal · 08/12/2009 16:50

Never! Dust mites thrive in low temp washes. It doesn't kill anything. Sorry! Minimum 50 for me but higher for towels (90)

BonjourIvressedeNoel · 08/12/2009 17:11

I usually wash at 40 and do an empty boil wash of my machine once a month to clean the machine out.

GrendelsMum · 08/12/2009 20:17

We started washing at 30 a few months ago, and we don't have any problems with stains. Certainly no deoderant marks like someone else said. I don't know whether the power makes a difference - we use Filetti, and it seems very effective at 30.

GrendelsMum · 08/12/2009 20:19

By the way, are there really dust mites in clothes?

IQuibbleThereforeIAm · 09/12/2009 11:42

Nope nope nope.

They come out smelling damp instead of clean. 60 for me.

SkipToMyLou · 09/12/2009 11:48

Even the rugby/footie kits come out clean at 30 in my machine, I only use 40 for bedding and 60 for towels. We don't whiff, and if anything the clothes seem softer when I get them out of the dryer now, so a result all round!

gorionine · 09/12/2009 11:50

I would for some things but not everything but the lowest temperature on my old washing mashine is 40c

Bumblingbovine · 09/12/2009 11:55

My machine does not wash as well at 30deg so if I try it (which I do sometimetimes in a fit of eco guilt) I usuually end up washing things again at 40deg. Admitedly I don't use biological washing poweder (it gives me a rash) but the clothes most certainly don't come out as clean on 30deg when I wash them.

In fact we are night training ds at the moment and if I don't wash at 40deg or more the other clothes in the wash end up smelling of wee let alone the wet bedclothes themselves. I know I tried it and ended up having to wash everything agian.

teatotal · 09/12/2009 13:30

Yes, dustmites are everywhere, they multiply and poo ALL the time. Hold your clothes up to the sun and give them a good shake. May look clean to the naked eye but may still be contaminated. If you wash any animal stuff in machine run your machine on 90 afterwards with nothing in it otherwise your next wash will get contaminated. If you have a vaccum that shows all the dust in the glass container - there is your proof. Hope this helps.

GrendelsMum · 09/12/2009 20:05

Thanks very much for taking the trouble to explain, Teatotal!

I have to say that this has probably had the opposite effect on me than you anticipated - I'm now thinking that if they're everywhere, I just won't bother - but I'm sure if I had family members with asthma it would be very handy. Or I suppose if they had asthma, I'd know about it already...

We do have a fabulous new Siemens washing machine, though - it made a massive difference compared to the old one.

apibeeman · 01/09/2015 14:19

Seeing as mumsnet is mostly about having babies and breeding, maybe you should all open your eyes a bit and take a serious look at global warming. First check out Easter Island and what happened there, as I think we are going the same way, there is plenty of info on the internet.
The main thing about global warming besides the temperature rise, is the sea rising. Within most of our lives it will be 10 feet, probably more. There is plenty of info about this on the internet. That means there will be about 100,000,000 people displaced. Where do you think those people will go, or do?
Then there is the sad fact that businesses and governments are trying to make money out of the bad situation, which is just making things worse, take carbon trading for an example.
Then we have the real polluters. massive ships using about 380 tons of crude oil to propel them through the water/day. the fumes and soot are pumped into the sea so you do not see the smoke. These ships are increasing 10%/year.
Then we have military, I believe US military produces 50% of the worlds pollution.
How about rockets, they are far from pollution free.
O.K. now consider this:- the authorities are going be picking on us, our heating and consumption. Our carbon footprint that they are going to be taxing us on.
Why are they not taxing the real polluters?
This November 30 2015, the UN are going to be holding a conference in Paris to tie governments to restriction co2 emissions. It will probably be as big a fiasco as the Kyoto agreement in 2006.
Wake up people, if you want a world for your children and grandchildren to live in you had better unite and do something. Personally I think we are nearly too late.

WhoTheFuckIsSimon · 01/09/2015 14:24

Zombie thread alert.

And oddly enough one I posted on in a previous name. I started reading my comment not realising it was me and thinking "quite right, agree with that".

rabbit123 · 01/09/2015 17:31

body temperature is 37.5 degrees, therefore a temperature above that is needed to kill the bacteria in clothes caused by sweat and air pollution etc. That's why washing at 30 is a no no for me. It creates a lovely warm and damp environment in the washing machine which just becomes a bacteria brothel.

40 degrees for clothes, 60 degrees for sheets and towels.

echt · 03/09/2015 09:50

I do 20 degrees or cold for everything except white sheets/stained cotton. The tea towel/surface cloth/scrubby things bag gets zapped at 60 with washing soda and bleach.

We are still alive.

NarcyCow · 03/09/2015 10:59

Zombie stains are too stubborn for 30.

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