Washing up in cold water to save money

textbook

Cost a fortune to heat my water, but this time of year the cold water is freezing.  Anyone use gloves or something to keep their hands warm while washing up and rinsing in cold water?

p00hsticks

How much washing up do you have ? We don't have much and just heat a bit of water in the kettle rather than run the hot tap to wash, and then rinse in cold water.
I've never costed it but I imagine the price is negligible in the grand scheme of things - and cheaper than buying gloves!

FreeBear

When washing up, I boil a kettle of water - You need really hot water to kill germs (very important if you have been handling raw meats), and it helps to lift grease & oil off.

Silvertabby

Washing dishes and pans in cold water?  Just....no.

mortgageFTB

Gross. This has to be a wind up thread.

starving_artist

FreeBear said:

When washing up, I boil a kettle of water - You need really hot water to kill germs (very important if you have been handling raw meats), and it helps to lift grease & oil off.

I agree it will help dissolve fats although a good quality detergent like Fairy is pretty good at that but it would surely have to be scalding hot to have an impact on bacteria.  Warm water is more comfortable for the hands though.

Grenage

I generally wash up with cold water unless it's something greasy, which isn't very often.  To be honest, I don't often bother with washing up liquid.

A pair of marigolds if you're determined to use such cold water.

Brie

Soap is the crucial bit in washing up to me.  You CAN wash dishes in water, hot or cold, without but that takes a lot of work.  Soaking helps loosen the dirt and then a thorough scrub and rinsing removes it.  Frankly you can even clean dishes without soap or water  - rubbing with sand works although it will likely ruin the finish on china as well as many pots, pans and ceramics.  

Soap, as I understand it, forms a colloid with the fats (the biggest issue in washing up) which means they basically "dissolve" in the water making them easier to remove from surfaces.  Hot water (or even warm) loosens the fats so the colloids form more easily achieving a better cleaning result.

I've never seen thermal waterproof gloves for washing up in cold water though presumably they exist somewhere.  If you want to limit energy use then put the plug in and fill the sink partly with the cold tap and top with some out of the kettle.  The room temperature water should be good enough to keep your hands from getting too too cold.  You could of course go one step further and leave a jug of water on a handy radiator to warm up ready for doing the dishes.  

Grenage

It depends on what you're washing.  If there's no meat or dairy, you can pretty much clean everything with a cold damp cloth.

If you're cleaning a baking tray after cooking sausages, warm water and soap are essential.

Slinky

I'd be worrying about an accumulation of fats off your pots blocking up your drains if you're not using washing up liquid which breaks them down.

I read a Citizens Advice article recently that said an average kettle costs 3p for 2 minutes, so you're not exactly saving much washing in cold water.

FreeBear

Brie said: If you want to limit energy use then put the plug in and fill the sink partly with the cold tap and top with some out of the kettle.

better to use a bowl - Less water used, and it won't soak up the heat like a steel sink would.