What percentage of a washing machine's energy is used purely to heat hot water?

Sterlingtimes

I take responsibility for the household cooking while my wife takes charge of the laundry. Neither of us interferes with the other's methods. My wife washes at 40 degrees: I would not seek to negotiate the temperature downwards.

BellaBlondykeTheThird

Sterlingtimes said:

I take responsibility for the household cooking while my wife takes charge of the laundry. Neither of us interferes with the other's methods. My wife washes at 40 degrees: I would not seek to negotiate the temperature downwards.

Wise words lol

QrizB

Sterlingtimes said:

It is the Ebac machine ... that I ordered.

The owner's handbook for the machine should include a table showing all the wash cycles and how much water, electricity and time each uses. You can compare those to the cold fill version, or to a competitor's model.

Sterlingtimes said:

The figures may be over-egged, but I think that for £30 extra for the hot fill, it is worth a try as a 531 kWh/year user. I will have my power meter at the ready.

Are you saying that you use 531kWh/yr just for laundry? That seems quite high?

The_Green_Hornet

Alnat1 said:

Only time I do a 90C wash is when Agile pays me to do it, couple of times a year is enough for me. I wipe inside the seal regularly, this is where any smelly gunk seems to lurk. Most of my washes now are 30C, machine is 10+ years old and hasn't a 20C option or I'd give that a go.

I don't understand the need to boil up bedding and towels to any higher temperatures than other laundry. Towels especially are only used for a minute or two when you're really clean and probably have less bacteria than an item you wear all day. It's your own bacteria too, not anything "nasty" from outdoors, so your immune system is already used to handling it.

Can clothes and towels spread germs? - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

BellaBlondykeTheThird

The_Green_Hornet said:

Alnat1 said:

Only time I do a 90C wash is when Agile pays me to do it, couple of times a year is enough for me. I wipe inside the seal regularly, this is where any smelly gunk seems to lurk. Most of my washes now are 30C, machine is 10+ years old and hasn't a 20C option or I'd give that a go.

I don't understand the need to boil up bedding and towels to any higher temperatures than other laundry. Towels especially are only used for a minute or two when you're really clean and probably have less bacteria than an item you wear all day. It's your own bacteria too, not anything "nasty" from outdoors, so your immune system is already used to handling it.

Can clothes and towels spread germs? - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

Prepare to be ripped apart by those that disagree even though it's a recognised linked resource 😂

Sterlingtimes

QrizB said:

Are you saying that you use 531kWh/yr just for laundry? That seems quite high?

Yes, it is a four-adult household. There is also washing for my 95-year-old mother, who lives elsewhere, for a couple of dogs and washing associated with horses.

BellaBlondykeTheThird

Sterlingtimes said:

QrizB said:

Are you saying that you use 531kWh/yr just for laundry? That seems quite high?

Yes, it is a four-adult household. There is also washing for my 95-year-old mother, who lives elsewhere, for a couple of dogs and washing associated with horses.

With this info in mind you don't want to be skimping on washing machine temperatures as some would have you believe in this thread if you are washing dog and horse parafanalia in the same machine 👍

MeteredOut

Sterlingtimes said:

It is the Ebac machine, as advertised on GB News,  that I ordered.

The headline claims by Ebac are:
save up to 27% a year in running costs; 
up to 64% less energy used a wash;
up to 21minutes quicker wash;
element lasts 43% longer

What is Hot Fill? - Ebac

The figures may be over-egged, but I think that for £30 extra for the hot fill, it is worth a try as a 531 kWh/year user. I will have my power meter at the ready.

Reminds me of the “up to 90% off” sales where the majority of the items have 20% off.

Unless you’re running your machine with exactly the same environmental setup as the tests (spoiler: you’re not) those figures are misleading, verging on meaningless.

Spoonie_Turtle

We mostly do 30℃ and 40℃ washes with the occasional 20℃ one where appropriate*, although on a really cheap Tracker day we might do a hot cleaning cycle on the machine itself, just to make sure it's thoroughly degunked.  

And if someone had, e.g., norovirus, we would be very glad of a hotter cycle!  Or like when the extended family used to prepare our own chickens for eating, Dad's clothes worn doing that would most definitely go on a hot cycle … if you've ever done that you'll know why, and if not, let's just say it's absolutely grim.  (It's not been done for years but I can definitely remember the smell.)

[*which possibly might seem slightly contradictory to my previous posts but I actually wasn't advocating for either viewpoint, literally just trying to point out that the 'how our ancestors survived' line of thinking is a bit of a fallacy.]

Chrysalis

Sterlingtimes said:

A washing machine heats water, runs a motor, runs pumps and runs controls, but what percentage is used in heating water? Bing AI suggests 80-90%.

I have just ordered a washing machine with mixed hot and cold flow. The price difference between the mix flow and a cold flow machine is a mere £30.

I note that when I run a hot tap close to the washing machine, I have to waste 3 litres to get the temperature up to 45 degrees. 

With something like the octopus mini you might be able to do the maths, watch the live read out as it spins, as it pumps, and so on.  To get an idea.

On using hot or cold flow, in my opinion cold water is almost certainly cheaper as electric heating of water in a small amount is about as efficient as you can get (think kettle).

For reference I typically wash at 30C.