Cold fill only washing machines

apples1

Hi,
Our Hotpoint washing machine packed up & I've just been out to get a new one. Have been told by Mr Comet that most "modern" machines are cold fill only. he said this is because modern soap powders work better with cold fill only rather than hot & cold fill.

I have no idea if this is true and would be interested to find out from any MSE's in the know whether he is correct and most manufacturers are now in process of changing to cold fill only machines and if so is that the real reason? Also won't it cost more to have the machine heat all its water rather than using water from our hot water tank?

I now have a (cold fill only!) 1600 spin Indesit machine sitting in the boot of my car waiting for my husband to come home and fit it. Previous machine was hot & cold fill but Mr C said no prob to fit cold fill in its place. He had better be right!

EasilyAggravated

biggest load of !!!!!! ive ever heard. i will stake money on your new washer having 2 inlets at the back. 1 for hot and one for cold. the powders require hot water to activate them. how is cold water going to kill germs and remove dirt? ignore the spatula at comet. it would cost an absolute fortune to heat the cold water using your machines element. the only reason its there is to heat the water for higher temp washes.

Nudge

I bought a new bosch washing machine in march and i automatically thought it was hot and cold fill as it had a low economy number on ,then when they delivered it they said it is only cold fill they said they are nearly all like that now.Anyway it takes forever to do a load and I have had to go on to use liquid tabs as a lot of the tablets will not dissolve.I have got used to it now as it is out in garage but it is a pain in the neck

wigginsmum

My Mum was told the same thing (most new machines are cold fill only) when she got her new machine last week, and my new machine arriving tomorrow is cold fill only. Given the way our combi boiler plays up, it's nice to know the washing machine won't be relying on it for hot water!

apples1

EasilyAggravated wrote:

biggest load of !!!!!! ive ever heard. i will stake money on your new washer having 2 inlets at the back. 1 for hot and one for cold. the powders require hot water to activate them. how is cold water going to kill germs and remove dirt? ignore the spatula at comet. it would cost an absolute fortune to heat the cold water using your machines element. the only reason its there is to heat the water for higher temp washes.

Wasn't suggesting that my clothes were to be washed in cold water!! The powder would be activated by hot water - it would just be heated by the machine. Not saying Mr Comet is right but your point about not killing germs and not removing dirt is not applicable as clothes will still be washed at usual 40 degree wash. You may be right about the cost of heating that water - hopefully more posts will help on that.

plumb1_2

Even if you have hot and cold, your machine takes in very little hot water, as the water will have been standing in the pipe for sometime and will have become cold/warm anyway(when you open your hot kitchen tap is it hot straight away?).
And will heat it up with the element inside your washer

deano72_2

most are cold fill only these days.not sure why.why not just conect your hot supply to it & see how you get on,it should still work providing you got good pressure.

matto

It is correct that new washing machines tend to be cold fill only. This trend has actually spread from the quality machines down to the budget ones. You may be able to find some really cheap ones that still have hot and cold fill.

There are quite a few reasons for this. The best reason is though that you should get better results with cold fill only using modern biological detergents. A hot water fill can kill biological agents and can also fix stains. COld water doesn't have the same problems. Also as washing machines use so much less water than they used to, the cost of heating the water in the machine is not great and even if you had a hot fill you'd be unlikely to add any really hot water, most of it would be cold water that had cooled in the pipes.

Jays

My new Miele washing machine is cold fill too, and I love it but my last washing machine was cold fill too so I'm used to it. I understand some of the american imports are hot tap fill but the rest are cold fill so I think you have been advised correctly.

Nudge, I find that washing liquid is best too, I have also found I don't need as much as the older machines did especially as the newer ones 'save' the detergent as it is unenvironment to deposit lots of detergents down the drain; so I have cut back dramatically (the new one tells me off if I put too much in :eek: ). Have not tried the tabs so can't comment, do work out more expensive?

Jays

Nudge

You can not do that deano as it would be rinsing in hot water and it would shrink the clothes

apples1

I used powder in drawer of previous machine (switched from liquid to save money as when I worked out cost big box powder worked out by far the cheapest per wash). Will I now need to use liquid again?

Also do the plumbers out there have any tips on plumbing new cold fill machine machine in? When we tipped old machine we kept the hoses attached ready to re-use rather than use new ones as Mr Apples said they always leak so easier just to connect old hoses to new machine. How will it work with cold fill only?