cold water wash

[yogitunes]

has anyone had good results washing in cold water...my sister has her speedqueen hooked up with one hose to the cold faucet for decades and has good cleaning results which suprises me considering her husband is a auto mechanic....out side of washing my black jeans to stop fading i cannot get good results from it...and i have tried many detergents and additives(liquid, powders, borax, ammonia, bleach, washing soda) just seems that a warm or hot wash works best in a FL or TL washer.....sears detergent i like alot but does not disolve in cold temperatures....maybe you guys have better results.....

 

[maytagbear]

The thing

is, as Laundress or Sudsman will tell, is that laundry is an equation---

Time, temperature, water hardness, chemicals, activation.... If all are balanced, the result is clean clothes.

Your sister may have softer water than you. My sister lives in a suburb of Minneapolis, and her water is softer than mine,(even without a mechanical water softener) in a suburb of Akron.

I can tolerate cold water washing for things other than underwear and towels.

As for dissolving powdered detergent, put it in the tub under the fill flume, and/or, dissolve it in a separate container of hot water. Not difficult at all.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[pulsator]

BLECH!!!

I can't STAND cold water washes!!! Nothing comes clean for me, not to mention the horrible rinse results! I always wash in warm or hot and rinse in warm! It might have something to do with the fact that our cold water is about 40 degrees Fahrenheit though...

 

[whirlaway]

Cold Water?

Would you wash dishes in cold water? Not I!! hOT OR WARM SEEMS TO MAKE THE FABRIC FEEL BETTER.Not stiff and i dont use softners nor dryer sheets. After working as a lineman for Ma bell for years my clothes always came out clean,Thanks Bobby

 

[toggleswitch2]

~has anyone had good results washing in cold water...my sister has her speedqueen hooked up with one hose to the cold faucet for decades and has good cleaning results.

Considering so many people believe that "scented" means clean....throwing waxy/greasy/heavily-odorous fabric softener in a batch of clothes does NOT make them clean.
No matter what anyone may say or think, IMHO getting rid of sebum (body oils/secretions) is probably not successful below 98.6*F/ 37*C.

Yes before this club/list/site I was a cold water abuser...and had extremely stinky "sour" towels (body odor, not fabric softener) to prove it.

Fabric softeners for the most part simply add back grease/oil/wax because modern detergents are TOO effective. To get the same results, just use less detergent. Ditto shampoo and conditioner. Just use less shampoo and drop the conditioner. Just think of what heavy use of softener does to your dispenser "cup" ---- your clothes and your hair can in theory get moldy/mildewy and otherwise have build-up and stains just as well.

I "like" the Japanese attitude to cold water washing--"it's been done this way for centures in the rivers and streams". Yes, but there is a more effective way avaailable now ...heated water.

In terms of your sisters machine itself, I'd love to see what manner of muck comes out of the drian hose after running two consecutive hot wash cycles in a row.

 

[sudsman]

Cold Water washing means a lot of things.

Cold Water can vary from 35 to 95 degreess.. In this part of Texas not uncommon for "cold"water to avg. 100 or more in the summer and as low as 36 in the winter. results will vary with the temperature. Admnistration isalways on my butt to cut temps as low as possible. However Cold water WILL set stains just as fast as hot water.. We have found in a Hospital laundry setting that the best temperature to wash at if "cold water washing" is used is 98F. While 140 to 160 is my accepted standard the lower temps DO work and clean.. Different supplies and times are need to make it work however. In this plant as well as my new one overloading is the main cause of rewash. Not water temperature. As little as 1% over load can cause mountains of rewash. We Will be washing this in our "cold formula" today..

 

[kenmoreguy64]

"Cold" tap water in Charlotte metro can vary widely like some other areas mentioned above. In the winter and spring, cold is cold enough at times to make a drinking glass sweat as if the water was in a refrigerator. In the hottest part of the summer, cold is warm enough that I have taken a shower after mowing the lawn in cold only.

This impacts wash results a great deal. Since the mixing valves in my machines are not thermostatic, in the winter I have to ad a significant amount of hot water just to make a good warm temp. In the summer, straight warm can be too warm for darks, etc. because the tap cold is not cooling down the hot enough. Only in the spring and fall can I set the machine to 'warm' and leave it there without adjusting it.

I like to use Tide Coldwater powder in the summer on some things - I figure the tap is sufficiently warm to actually work, but I don't have to use heated water. I DO NOT do this in the winter.

 

[brisnat81]

Mum like most Australians washed in cold for years, it was only since she got a FL that the minimum temp has risen to 30deg C. She switched from hot water washing with SA8 in the mid 80's to cold power and never looked back.

The initial caveat is, that here all our detergents are made for cold water washing.

The only thing mum ever used to wash in hot were dads greasy shirts, pants and overalls. If they were just covered in dirt, they had a cold wash by themselves. (Dad was/is a fitter and turner/Heavy machinary mechanic.)

Everything came out clean, you used Oxy Bleach for whites and Towels were good for a week before they needed changing. You give the washer a maintenance wash every couple of months, with hotwater and bleach.

Cold water here, is unlikely to ever be lower than 10degC and where I live is usually around 20degC, so that probably helps.

We were never sick as kids, and were always clean and smell free, I think a big part of it, is the chemical formulation, when the temp drops.

 

[launderess]

Once Again. Now Pay Attention Students!

Good laundry practice is combines four (count them, 4) variables.

Time
Temperature
Chemicals
Mechanical Action

A reduction or increase in one factor, most always corresponds with an equal action on the remaining factors.

Hence one can achive good laundry results with cold water (cold being around 85F), if the chemical level is increased, and adjustments made where necessary as well.

Tide Coldwater detergent is actually slighly more concentrated than normal Tide and even Tide with Bleach. Indeed many commercial laundry products sold in Europe and the UK, and even some sold for domestic use (such as Persil), cleary state one can achive the same washing results at 140F, 104F, and 85F.

In places such as Japan, coldwater for laundry has been the standard for ages, and there have not been any major outbreaks of disease, indeed it is harder to find a more "clean" society. One must therefore assume detergents sold in that market have been designed and tested work in cold water.

L.

 

[laundromat]

Body Mites Ewwwwwwwwww

We all have them and cold water WILL NOT wash them out of our clothes,towels or bed linnen.They leave dark blotches in areas of our clothes where pubic hair is plentyfull.Hot or warm wash with a good detergent keeps them washed out of our clothes.Cold water will do nothing for removal and cause permanent stains to form in those areas.It also leaves a strong oder that,once set in,never goes away.That's why I wear only cotton fabrics especialy my socks,boxer shorts and "T"shirts.I am currently trying Tide Liquid for the first time in almost 20 years!We'll see the results compaired to Gain