Cold Washing your Laundry

SammyD_2

In New Zealand most people I knew wash in cold. But I never figured out how to get my English machine to go less than 30 degrees...I personally would not wash everything in cold - underwear, tea towels and shirts I think need some heat to be really clean. I was never fussy with my brand, I think most work ok in cold, but would probably avoid the "gel" or "powder tablets" type.

hotcookie101

Hi all.
I know everyone here washes at 30 and has great results, but my machine (whirlpool awm5145) only has a 30 degree wash for silk, which you can only load 1kg of washing (vs 5kg for 40 degree cotton wash) and it doesnt spin so not practical at all
The instructions say you use 0.6kwh for a 2 hour 40 degree cycle, and the same for the one hour daily wash cycle (can only put 5kg in)
I do have a quick wash button which I use if stuff doesn't seem too dirty but quite often it still comes out stained
Its only a few years old, and I do not want to replace it, so really am wondering (in a rambling roundabout way) is 0.6kwh for a 5kg load at 40 ok, or should I persevere with the quick washes when I seem to have to rewash things more often?
It does have a cold wash button which heats water to 20-would that get things clean better on a longer cycle compared to quick wash cycle at 40?

painted_lady

I dont know the answer to your question, but my washer has several quickwash settings, you can control the temperature separately. Good in theory, but find my washing rarely comes clean at 30, so end up washing it again, so not very money saving and washing at 40 or 60 straight away, they come clean. My washer is 16 months old and I have always had this problem. I use branded washing detergents etc so dont know why it does this. Have you tried cleaning the inside of the washer? Put half a bag of soda crystals inside the drum and do an empty cycle at 60 degrees. Helps get rid of limescale and build up of detergent.

whatatwit

I often wash in cold, but saying that, i do tend to pre-trear any obvious marks.
I have a spray bottle of cheapo liquid detergent that I have watered down half and half.
I squirt and grease marks etc before putting into the machine. I find this does help.

Bongedone

If you have a temperature dial on your machine it will override the temperature of the program. Then you use 40c wash but overridden to 30c.

Slinky

I use tablets as you get a controlled dose rather than the haphazard guess you get with loose powder.

I can't work out which is more environmentally friendly. A 30 degree wash with 2 tablets or a 40 degree wash with one. I find if I wash at 30 with one it isn't always effective. I tend to do 40 degrees with one tablet.

belfastgirl23

Just to report back that the cold water wash worked fine for bedding, will def repeat this...

1sttimer_2

How do you choose a 'cold' wash? My machine doesn't have a different setting for temperatures. If I choose a low temp (ie Silk) it doesn't spin which is no good if I want to set the washer off before bed or work. I have a quick wash, which is 40/50deg (I think) which is the cheapest to use and the quickest but only for small amounts. There's only the 2 of us so that's no problem. It's a newish machine too (6-9 months).

I use washer balls and 1/2 amount of Ariel liquid. Don't have a big problem with stains but if I do, I rub green fairy soap on them or if very bad, soak in Astonish oxyclean stuff. Seems to work for me.

Somewhere in here someone said that their washing machine booklet suggested doing a 90 deg wash once a week to keep it fresh and clean and help prevent black stains appearing on the rubber seal. I hadn't heard of that, but did my towels on one this week and the black marks on my seals were noticebly smaller.

belfastgirl23

My machine has a cold wash setting luckily, also you can override the spin speed on the cycle you've chosen - guess all machines are different. I used my energy monitor to check costs and was surprised at the findings -a regular cold wash came in at 1.5p whilst a 40 deg fast wash came in at 5p. Both had the same spin cycle. I also did a 60 deg wash this morning (not short wash) which came in at 10.5p. I will try a boil wash over the weekend and see what that costs. BTW I do a boil cycle on my machine roughly once a month just to stop the bacteria building up. If I don't, I notice that the clothes smell bad if they aren't tumble dried immediately (damp mouldy smell). Apparently washing all your clothes at 30 deg leads to a build up of bacteria in the machine...

Hope that helps

Charis

Low temperature washing – this is good for saving energy but can cause long-term damage to the machine. When washing constantly at low temperatures the machine can build up with body oils and dead skin cells, which in time can damage the rubber parts of a washing machine

from a parallel thread on MSE: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1065831&page=3&highlight=boil+wash

I have found that 30° washes don't get my washing as clean as 40°. If I was washing something by hand I would expect the water to feel warm to my hands. In the winter the cold wash will be really cold. Mr T's cheap non bio powder doesn't all dissolve at 40° in my new low water machine, it leaves chalky pieces of 'filler' which drop all over the floor if you dry indoors without the tumble dryer.

Capyboppy:

To me you need at least 50 degrees for anything that has stains in, or another tip is to let the water come in as if you are doing the hottest wash on your machine. Usually between 85-95 degrees. Then knock the machine off so it soaks in this very hot water. Change it back down to a lower temp after letting it soak for about an hour or even overnight.

The latest machines are cold fill only so this won't work for everyone.