Cold water wash

[kindalazy]

I was wondering what people think of cold water washing? I tried Tide Cold Water, and everything appears clean.

Having said that, I thought, should I be using this for towels, bed clothes etc. typical items I would switch to the hot water setting.

Are the enzymes in the detergent able to kill off the bacteria? Are the bacteria killed off in the dryer? What if I decide to line dry?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[ronhic]

The vast majority of Australians (about 80%) wash in cold water and this figure is rising...

....and we havn't died as a nation or had a major epidemic that hasn't been suffered by the rest of the western world....

Personally, I don't wash in cold. But that is mainly because I have a front load machine that only heats about 15-20 litres. If I had a top load machine and was on normal, storage (not off-peak electric) hot water, I would possibly think differently...

 

[panthera]

We just had

quite a discussion on this, unfortunately it's off the list.

I won't even try to pretend we reached any agreement, so please see this as my take, no doubt many will chime in as soon as they see this with their experience.

Cold water washing is necessary for some few, select things. But even washable wools can be washed in luke-warm water, and lower than that I, personally will not go.

Cold water does not activate enzymes. You need at least 20°C (68°F) water for the most advanced, low-temperature activated systems to work - and nobody claims they work well on products which have snot, ear-wax, "tire-tracks", or were involved in, um, fun.

It is hotly discussed, but my experience over the years in reparing/restoring washers has shown me that cold water washing builds up evil-smelling gunk and mold/mildew all over the place.

I'll keep it short and simple: Cold water washing neither cleans clothes well nor does it leave them reasonably germ free.

Bummer, it would be nice. Just, have yet to see it.

Now, you'll certainly get all sorts of other opinions, just, those of you living in climates with ambient temperatures over 68° degrees need to mention that. Somebody living in the warm parts of the world with a black cistern on their roof arguing that their 120°F 'cold' water works great is not quite speaking to the argument.

 

[panthera]

ronhic,

our posts crossed. Please don't take mine as an affront.

Cold water at my parents' house at 5,000+ feet in winter is 34°F.

In summer, it is never above 40°F.

That's not, I suspect, comparable to your "cold". Toronto is probably closer to my parents' situation than your wonderful climate...

 

[frigilux]

I washed all my laundry in temp-controlled cold water (about 65 degrees on my Frigidaire washers) exclusively for almost two years when Tide Cold Water first appeared on the market. I had very good results. I tried a couple of loads with tap cold water---which in Minnesota can be refrigerator-cold---and the results were not great.

Loads of highly-stained kitchen whites and personal whites were always washed with the recommended dose of liquid chlorine bleach.

I did a stain removal test for detergents awhile back, and powdered Tide Cold Water couldn't match Tide with Bleach Alternative, but coupled with chlorine bleach, it did just as good a job. The reformulated liquid Tide Cold Water gets great scores from Consumer Reports.

I stopped washing everything in cold water because I was bored with using the same detergent and water temp for every load.

I wouldn't worry about germs unless you're washing diapers or rags that have soaked in raw meat juices. This mania for eliminating germs is silly. I know of no one who has gotten sick from laundered clothing.

 

[kindalazy]

Raw food

Funny you mention that. After the melamine found in commercial dog food a few years ago, the breeder we got our puppy from had her on a raw food diet from the beginning, which I have maintained. So, yes, at least every 3 weeks there are raw meat 'juice' on my kitchen towels, not to mention the fact that I cook daily, I also tend to cook daily (fish, poultry, meats) so there's gotta be bacteria there, I won't even mention H1N1, and, although we don't have any, there seems to be an increasing amount of reports of bed bugs (gross) in North America.

Our clothes appear clean using the cold wash, but I'm not sure it's killing bacteria and germs. I think I'll stick to hot water washes.

 

[kindalazy]

This is what I'm to avoid

Check out the link, it's a quick read.

http://www.bugsrgonelaundry.com/Our_Special_Process.html

 

[maytagbear]

If the care label

says "cold water," and it isn't winter, that's what button I poke. If it is winter, I blend in a minute of hot water before adding the items, and I stir the water around.

I wash towels and kitchen linen in tank hot, which is about 140F.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[sudsman]

use the Searchalator

there is most likely 500 pages on this

 

[yogitunes]

the only isue with COLD water ashing I see is that it takes a little longer for the stains to come out, I actuallystarted gettin good results from it, but it must be temerature controlled, not ice cold, and soaking is a BIG plus, usually I start the machine and let it agitate for a few minutes and then shut it off for about an hour or two, and then pull the button out and let it finish....sometimes you have to use 1 1/2 the amount of detergent, and bleaching whites with cold water is actualy the recommended way to do it....prefered first wash with detergent, first rinse with bleach, and second rinse with plain water or softner added....

you have to experiment around and see what works best for you and your laundry stains, somethings require warm or hot wash to clean completely....many loads can get away with a cold wash only

an ocassional wash in hot water and bleach will also help keep the machine clean.....I have a buddy who washes in cold only, and Tide with bleach, but you can smell on his clothes and towels the musty odor that their not being cleaned right, body odors and grime is not being washed away either from the clothes or the machine, and this is what I check for when I wash in cold water, if it doesn't seem right I will re-wash in warm or hot water

like Maytagbear said you may have to add some hot water to get the right temp, my mom selects warm wash but turns the hot water valve almost completely off to get the same temp everytime

were all for saving energy, but not at the cost of clean clothes....

 

[panthera]

I think it would help

if we were to list just what, exactly, we define as

cold
tempered-cold or auto-cold
luke-warm
warm
very warm
hot
"boil-wash"

It's pretty obvious that for someone who is washing with "cold" water that comes out of the tap at 65+ degrees, 'cold' has a radically different meaning than for someone washing in 'cold' water from the tap at just above freezing.

We also have to remember that the North Americans (not us, dahlinks, I mean the average person) are only just now beginning to embrace enzymes as have the rest of us for decades. The Americans were among the first to use enzymes and the backlash due to poor rinsing and resultant skin problems (whether real or imagined) caused enzymes to disappear from nearly all normal products used by normal people for decades.

Again, talking about normal, not us.

To me:
cold = below 40°F or 5°C
tempered-cold or auto-cold 86°F or 30°C
luke-warm 104°F or 40°
warm 122°F or 50°C
hot 140°F or 60°
"boil-wash" 203°F or 95°C (really boiling water went out about 25 years ago)

My definitions are standard in Europe, so it's easy to see that when I say "cold" here in a temperate climate and my mom says "cold" in the Rocky Mountains, it isn't even close.

 

[thomasortega]

Here in Brazil most housekeepers use cold water.
Almost all of our machines has only one fill as water heaters are rare.
Even the HE machines (Affinity, Duet, etc) come with instructions to use a T connector or a double faucet to connect the hot water inlet hose where hot water pipes are not available.

And nobody died or had troubles with "tire tracks". LOL

By the way, during the winter, our cold water temperature is never below 25 degrees Celsius and our detergents were always formulatd to work well at this temperature.

around 10 years ago the "hot water fever" started here in Brazil. In 1994 Continental (Bosch) Launched their 1st front loader with internal heater which was a huge success. Before that, only Enxuta offered some models with internal heater but almost nobody bought them.
Since the Continental "Evolution", all manufacturers started to offer at least one model with internal heater. Usually the TOL models.

 

[thomasortega]

I always liked to do my laundry using hot water, but some fabrics seems to look much better after washed in old water.

Wool and silk for example...

 

[passatdoc]

I wish I had bought the Frigidaire 2940 instead of my 2140, because the former has Auto Temp Control and mine does not. I didn't understand what this feature was (see how much I learned from this site??) at the time, and the salesman said the only difference between the two models was the door color and a digital time remaining display on the 2940...so to save $100 I went with the lower model. All I knew about the models was that neither had a heater (no big deal, I don't need to wash above hot water ambient temp) and that the 2940 looked fancier than the 2140.

Had I understood the value of Auto Temp Control (plus the variable time delay feature of the 2940---the 2140 has a fixed eight hour delay option, but the delay is not variable), I would gladly have ponied up the extra $100. Since I bought the windowless 1442 gas dryer, it didn't really match either washer (the 1442 controls do match the 2140 controls, but 1442 has a solid door) and was designed to stack on top of either washer (or on top of an Affinity, for that matter)...and it would not have looked out of place atop a 2940 washer...who cares if the controls don't match?

Our cold water temp in summer approaches 20 C, so I can do cold water washes of normal clothing in "cold" during summer only. The rest of the time I use "Warm" to ensure enzyme activation. I use either Hot or Warm for towels and underclothes. Winter ambient temps are about 50 F/10 C, much too cold for washing all but things that "must" be washed in cold water.

Of course, if I washed with a machine with Auto Temp Cold, there would be some hot water usage to assure 20 C (except in summer), but probably less than always washing on Warm, which produces temps in excess of 20 C, thus warmer than necessary for routine clothing loads with enzymatic detergent.

 

[passatdoc]

ps hot vs warm

For towels/underclothes, I use Hot in cooler months, knowing that my ambient cold water temp varies and will be mixed in fixed proportion with my hot water, most likely producing "warm" in winter and something closer to "hot" in warmer months. It would be interesting to check just how warm "Warm" with a thermometer, to see the seasonal variation. I have a spare aquarium thermometer...

 

[pulsator]

I never ever ever wash anything in cold water! Nor do I rinse anything in cold water! A few weeks ago I installed a tempering valve in my laundryroom to keep the cold water, which reaches 40 deg F in the winter, at a nice 85 deg F year round! I don't consider that to be cold water, I personally consider that to be cool water. While I rarely wash in this "cool" setting, I usually rinse in it and everything has been coming out SOOOOOOO much softer!

 

[toggleswitch2]

I used cold for years on darks. Changed that to warm after learning from this site. Got tired of sour towels.

Also dropped white tighty-whities in favor of colors. You know the rule; more than three shakes and you are playing with it. Got tired of the last few drops causing a visible.
stain..............

And if there are going to be skid-marks generated during the day (LOL not tire-tracks) they don't need to be visible across the room.

 

[favorit]

bed bugs

hi Kindalazy,

I read that link, IMHO those people are marketing-psyco-terrorist.
I have never seen/heard of bedbugs in average clean households.

For sure those who are dust mites allergic will never have bedbugs problems, because all the actions to prevent dust mites are effective against bedbugs

Let ajar sheets, mattresses and pillows every morning, this is important because both dust mites and bedbugs "like" carbon dioxide.

Change sheets once /twice a week. One who has dust mite allergy will have better to use those endless cycles that hold 140°F for an hour with extra rinse option

Vacuum matresses and wash pillows and mattress cases once a month.

I guess this is what average people do in their households. Of course matresses care has to be done weekly in public environements (dorms, hotels, hospitals...)

ASKO manuals say to wash @ 140°F at least all those fabrics that get in touch with skin. IMHO this is a wise advice

But let's face it : people are different and have different ideas of "clean" . One of my friend is the fussiest person in the world, he can't even hear the word "camping". Anyway he has no problem with his dogs going on sofas and beds. I often have camping holidays but my dog never dared to jump up to the sofa .....

 

[launderess]

BedBugs

Are making a HUGE comeback in many places where they were long since thought extinct.

All over the United States, from five star NYC hotels, to Park or Fifth Avenue high priced buildings to the NYC subway and bus system, and every place in between, the critters are back with a fury. Just Google "bedbugs" in both Interent and news search.

Bedbugs unlike lice or even roaches are not a sign of filth, rather they simply are out for a good meal, and it does not matter if the human lives in the cleanest of surroundings.

Bedbugs are also turning up on planes, restaurants, and so forth. Anyplace they can hitch a ride from their hosts.