Washing-up... Hot water??

shebangs

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Mrs_Chip

GlynD - sorry - have to disagree. Grease will come off with cold water and detergent. I have just spent two days deep cleaning a fish and chip van with no hot water. It is now sparkling, and totally non-greasy (until we use it again!)

In my day (god I sound so old) we were taught how to wash up in 'Domestic Science', and we were taught how to wash up if only cold water is available - use a bit more soap to create an emulsion between the fat and the water. But that was in the bad old days of the miners strikes and power cuts. Hopefully long gone...

So when OH says he can't wash up because there is not enough hot water he gets a flea in his ear :rotfl:

andrealm

I wouldn't use cold or lukewarm water, it's not hygienic. It should be hot.

VfM4meplse

GlynD wrote: »

I've been well trained in these matters by the memsahib

I love a man who knows his place .

Mrs_Chip

A lot of people wash up using a bowl of hottish water and use it until it looks like soup, and not very hot at all. Unless you use almost, if not boiling water, there will be very little benefit from a hygene perspective, and the warm wet conditions are ideal for germs to multiply. A final very hot or boiling rinse will resolve that problem, all the pre washing can be in cooler or cold water. Most important is that items are dry before putting away, as stacking stuff wet in the cupboard can cause bacteria to multiply in the moist conditions.

Miss_Ratty

Water should not have to be mega hot to remove grease...it depends on what detergent you use and how strong it is. Personally, I do use hot water for stubbornly dirty dishes etc (because I'm lazy and they are just easier to clean that way), but tend to use lukewarm/hand hot for the rest, and cold for glasses and stuff that isn't soiled. Washing straight after eating makes it waaaaaaaaaaaaay easier (and ensures minimal bacteria are on the plate in the fist place, as they breed on your food residue).

I use ecover and find it to be fine for everything. Water also doesn't have to be hot to maximise hygiene. That is a myth. To kill the germs you would need a temperature much hotter than your hands could cope with, and for so long that you would probably end up visiting casualty (in fact even boiling water only kills some germs, not all). Anyways - a lot of dishwashers work just fine on the cooler washes.

The key is to get all of the food residue off the plates etc. Bacteria can only survive if they have food, and the right breeding conditions (e.g. warmth, moisture). Washing the residue off the plate removes their food source, and making sure everything is dry before putting it away will help. I find a good foam scourer and a metal one too for pots and pans (don't use on non-stick ones) gets everything off anything. My experience is based on my many years studying microbiology and many years of washing-up without maddeningly hot water and never having a bad experience with food (aside from food poisoning from an all inclusive hotel abroad...I didn't do the washing up there!)

http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2007/0810-are_your_dishes_clean.htm