30 degree wash that may be hotter!

Rachelja

Has anyone else got a suspicion that their 30 degree wash is washing hotter? I have had a succession of garments coming out of the wash definitely smaller than when they went in even though washing instructions clearly say 30 degrees. Not sure whether to spend money calling in an engineer.

diable

How much hotter as a few degrees won't affect the garments.

DeepSporran

I had a problem like this with an old (but still serviceable) washing machine. Managed to shrink a jumper to Barbie doll size even though I thought I had washed it at 30 degrees.

Inspected the washing machine controls and discovered that the temperature control knob had a crack in it. When it was turned, it was only the plastic bit with the temperature settings marked on it that was turning. The metal bit behind was not moving at all, and was in fact turned right round to maximum temperature. So the jumper had suffered a 90 degree wash.


Managed to fix (bodge!) the knob with a twist of wire so that the plastic bit was tightly fitted to the metal. Seemed to work OK, but I had to check it carefully each time I did a wash.

Rachelja

I'm not sure how much hotter it is yet. Someone suggested that I will be able to do a "sense" test by checking glass of machine while it's on the 30 degree wash. Should be lukewarm to touch.

I will check temperature knob but pretty sure it is intact!

basmic

Why not just put one of those fridge thermometers on the glass during the wash, and watch it every 5 minutes then note the highest temperature.