Cold Water Washing: The Debate Goes On

[brisnat81]

Its all about the chemicals you use.

When I was really small, I have vague memories of Mum using Rinso and hot water in her twin tub (I remember because I got 3rd degree burns on my chest when I pulled the hot fill hose out of the machine while it was filling) (The Joys of 70degC hotwater on Tap)

In the mid 80's Cold power had really taken hold and Mum switched to cold water washing for everything except dad's greasy work clothes.

With detergents that are formulated for those temps and the addition of oxygen bleach + pre-treating + soaking, everything always came out white and there were never any smells or odors. Cold was always below 20degC

Mum washed like that for years in a TL machine, early this century I got her doing towels in hot water to keep the machine clean. Now she's got a Miele, most things are done at 30degC, with towels and sheets done at 50degC.

She doesnt notice any difference, except she no longer uses oxygen bleach. I sold the concept to her on the premise of keeping the machine clean and its low water usage. When you were heating 80L of water to 60degC rather than 10L to 50degC you start to save a large amount of money.

I cant say that I'd wash in cold as it takes too much effort to pre-treat everything to get it clean, but if you throw the right cocktail of chemicals at the problem, you can still get bright whites and clothes that smell of nothingness. If the clothes were dirty, she would've changed how she was doing it.

 

[moparwash]

Two things not in my house

1. Wire Hangers

2. NO COLD WATER WASHES!!!...EVER!!!!

 

[sudsmaster]

Induction water heating

Try as I might...

I can't see how water could be heated directly inductively.

And even if it could be so heated, I'm at a total loss to try to explain how that possibly could be faster or more efficient than simply submerging a resistance heating element in said water.

Perhaps one could enlighten one on this vexing mystery.

 

[sudsmaster]

If cold water washing is so great...

Why doesn't everyone switch to cold showers?

 

[favorit]

Induction water heating element in a frontloader

theoretically it is possible with a stainless steel outer tub : the magnet induces a current in the tub that generates heat because of Joule effect. Actually a regular heating element is cheaper and far more vibration resistant than a induction device. This counts a lot in a frontloader

 

[brisnat81]

Rich, I do in summer otherwise I'd be just as hot when I got out of the shower as when I got in.

From December through February, I can usually shower with the Hot tap turned off. Cold water varies between about 16degC and 24degC between those months.

Soap still lathers and rinses, shampoo still works, and nobody seems to avoid me even in the absence of any cologne or aftershave and just a touch of deoderant.

 

[surgilator_68]

Most of the year in Florida you could take a cold shower and part of the year in Ga. Especially if you were on a well and the tank was in the sun all day.

 

[maytagbear]

I only wash in cold water

when the garment is labeled "Cold Water Only."

Never cold for underwear, socks, bath towels, or kitchen towels. In fact, I add water from the stove to get kitchen towel loads up to 180F.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[westyslantfront]

Dirt has a greasy base. Grease will not melt in cold water.
It is like adding oil to water, especially cold water. The oil and water do not mix. Detergent can break down the grease but also needs the help of warm to hot water.
I have been doing laundry my entire life this way...hot water for whites and warm for everything else.

Ross

 

[sudsmaster]

Which brings up a point.

Places where people tend to wash in cold water: Japan, Spain, South America, Australia... tend to be on the warm side to begin with. So "cold" water there might be body temperature.

Up here in the SF area cold water is COLD most of the year. In the hottest part of the summer, yeah, the tap water warms up quite a bit. But still... not warm enough for a shower.

 

[panthera]

Cold is relative

I think it's fascinating just how warm "cold" water is, depending on where you live.

For my parents in the Rocky Mountains, "cold" is 1-2C (34-36F) for a good part of the year.

For me, in my part of Munich (different parts of the city have different water supplies, we are one of the very few parts of the city with water from the city itself), "cold" all year round is 12C (54F).

In Cheyenne, "cold" in summer is well into the 15C+ range (59F+) and in winter the pipes can freeze.

Obviously, if your cold water is warm enough to shower, then it is not "cold" by my definition of just barely not flowing ice in the mountains.

I know that we will eventually have the technology to clean in any temperature of liquid water as well as we do today in boiling hot water. The question is, when?

Until then, I'm sticking with the analysis done by our version of Consumer Reports. They recently stated that the 20C (68F) laundry detergents clean adequately if clothes are not too dirty, the wash program is appropriately long, the load is not too large...but they absolutely, totally, completely fail at reducing the microbial load compared to the TAED systems at 40C (104F) and can only be considered hygenic when soil deposition was light and an extra anti-microbial like Sagrotan is used. (Except in the UK, chlorine bleach is seldom used in Europe and I don't know anyone in Germany who uses it except as a last resort).

Their advice is based on scientifically valid testing and they are independent of the manufacturers. I think I'll stick with their advice for now - 40C for normal laundry and for towels, underwear and bed linens, 60C.

I don't use fabric towels in the kitchen, I use paper towels. This annoys my Öko-friends no end, but I will never forget the evening I saw my room mate use a towel to dry the dishes which he'd used that afternoon to clean up after one of the cats had gifted us with a hair-ball. He'd rinsed it out and hung it up to dry and forgotten to put it in the dirty laundry.

No way, no way. Never again. Same goes for handkerchiefs. Totally disgusting. And something the Japanese don't use, either.

 

[ronhic]

Well....

....the debate rages...

Neither I, nor my mother or sister use cold water exclusively to washing preferring at least 30c and generally 40-60c depending on the load...

HOWEVER...

According the Australian Bureau of Statistics, as at 2008, 74% of Australians do their laundry in COLD WATER....making us very much in the minority.

....and I'm here to tell you that, whilst there are elements of ALL populations that 'smell', it isn't because of washing their clothes in cold water....Australians certainly don't (well no more than any other nation).

 

[gmmcnair]

Cold Water....

....or rather Cool on my new machine is only used for stuff that fades easily. I use Hot (what would have been called Medium a few years ago) on my whites, and Warm (rather cool now) on everything else. Seems to work fine

 

[pulsator]

I don't even allow cold water RINSES let alone washes!

I wash everything in 3 temperatures. Warm(40C/104F) for darks and bright colors, medium(50C/120F) for bath towels, and hot(60C/140F) for sheets and whites.

I rinse everything in cool water(30C/85F). I have the cold water line to all of my washers hooked up to a tempering valve that raises the cold water temp to 30C/85F by mixing in hot water. The cold water here in Michigan gets down to a few degrees above freezing in the winter and is simply unacceptable for washing or rinsing.

I'm also an over-user of the extra rinse option on any washer!

 

[logixx]

I tried cold water twice and won't try it again.

Loaded a medium load of colors into the washer. Added Ariel Excel Color Gel as per instructions. Ran a cold quick wash without softener. Checked the temp at the beginning and the end of the main wash - 65°F / 18°C, which is slightly warmer than the detergent (allegedly) requires (59°F / 15°C).

The cycle did a 20 minute wash, deeeeep rinse, spin, deep rinse, spin, deep rinse and 1400 rpm final spin. Threw everything in the dryer on Cupboard dry. One week later, after I had worn every item from that cold wash once, I did another cold wash - just as the once described above. Result: the clothes smelled so bad that I had to re-wash them on hot with regular Ariel powder. No more cold for me.

Maybe I should have used the 2:00 hrs. cycle, as Keven said above. Who knows. I certainly won't buy that expensive detergent ever again.

 

[mielabor]

I have no problems with cold washing i.e. washing at room temperature (20-25 °C). Everything comes out smelling fresh with use of unscented detergents. But... you need to significantly increase the washing time! Lower temperatures mean slower chemical reactions. On average every 10 degrees lower means that reaction speed is reduced to 50% or even less. Then there is the fact that many fatty substances solidify at lower temperatures and are more difficult to attack by enzymes and detergents. This makes the washing process even more time consuming.

My opinion is that it works (ok, maybe not when using ice-cold water) but it is only suitable for people with lots of patience like me

 

[panthera]

Theo is right,

Alexander, I am not in love with it, but when I set my washer to the 2.29 program, it does extra heavy tumbling (7-5 instead of 5-3) and it does clean lightly soiled clothes well with one of the Persil 20C programs.

Lightly soiled.
Two hours and 29 minutes.

It just isn't worth it. I want my clothes to be clean and reasonable germ free.

Now, at 40C with Persil Megaperls activated for 20C, I can get normally soiled clothes really, truly clean in the same program. Less wear and tear on the clothes, a lot fewer germs and much, much, happier me. The rise from 12C to 40 is not that big a deal when you consider that I have to use a clothes dryer (bissige alte Schachtel kontrollieren die Waschküche hier im Haus und niemand unter 70 darf rein...die Kühe schmeißen dir deine Wäsche aus der Maschine oder runter von der Leine auf dem Boden).

 

[mielabor]

Keven, your cold wash is done in a jiffy. Mine takes 12 hours or more...

 

[rolls_rapide]

Cold water washes

I don't like 'em - they don't clean the clothes properly.

Just this morning, I was speaking with a neighbour who happened to mention that she cannot get her whites 'WHITE'. She said she washes at 40°C. I replied that I do ours at 60°C and activate the intensive wash option.

 

[reo580]

Cold water washing..............Not in my waterhog

Lol. I would rather use my Maytag A206 then any of the "new and improved" modern washers. If I ever decide to retire the Maytag I will then buy a Miele set with the boil-wash setting for the whites.
I do wash my denim in cold water and some of my blacks , that's about it. My white towels I wash in hot water with powder Tide and bleach.I use bluing in the rinse. My white towels are just as white as they were when I bought the set two years ago. My other laundry I do on the warm setting. I used to do cold water washes on everything when I was in my early 20's and discovered that I had dull whites and my clothes did not feel clean. I then realized that my grandmother knew what she was doing when she taught me to use warm on most washing and hot on the whites. Now I have turned in to a laundry Nazi. I think many people don't care, they do not want to sort, iron, or do any work to look nice. I notice that many of my friends just put whatever in the washing machine and then literally pack things in (overloading). I couldn't do that. I am too picky