Does Anyone Still Use Boil Wash Temps?

[launderess]

Was thinking other day how rarely one boils washes anymore; just don't see point. Things come out with same results using 60 degrees C cycles especially when using TOL powdered detergents with activated bleaching systems such as Persil or Ariel.

https://www.waschmaschinen-test.eu/wie-kann-man-beim-waschen-energie-sparen

On the modern AEG washers one has cycle times are rather long anyway which compensates I suppose for lower temperatures.

 

[Marky_Mark]

Yes I sometimes wash my white towels at 90 ℃.  And although this is of course 10 degrees below boiling, it is still often referred to as a boil wash.

 

I'm not saying that I think it's necessary to wash at this temp.  It's just something I do because I can.

 

Mark

 

[eriksp]

I do a boil wash with an oxygen bleach based detergent around once a month on white, sturdy cottons as I find this negates the need for specialized washing machine cleaners, or empty maintenance washes. With a good, modern oxygen bleach based detergent and 60 degrees, things are already cleaned more than satisfactory, and whiteness is easily maintained at that temperature, so a boil wash is simply to minimize the formation of sludge and bacteria growth.

 

[ozzie908]

Ditto what eriksp said

I do a whites wash every so often just to clean the machine as well as the towels.

But to answer Launderess' question I do a boil wash now and then in the Gas heated wash boiler once its at a rolling boil I put the laundry and water into a twin tub and use it to do the rest of the wash, gas boiler saves a lot of electricity from having to heat the wash tub water...

 

[henene4]

Yes, but rarely

My washer says it does a boilwash, but just like with ELux for example, it's actually topping out at 80C target temp.

Can run 60, 70 and effectively 80 washes thus.

About once a year I run my white towels and white bedding through a boilwash.

About every 2 months I have a load of tea towels and cleaning cloths saved up that go through a boilwash aswell.

And my comforter, pillows and matress protector are boilwash safe, so if I wash them, I wash them at those temps.

For most stuff, I can get similar results at 60C.

But bleaching still is more intense at higher temperatures.

My daily whites (socks, T-Shirts) aren't heavily soiled and get white just fine at 40C.
But on heavy stains, or big articles, a boilwash just "makes sense" in my mind.

 

[donprohel]

I cannot answer the question

My washing machine believes she is very "smart" and "ecological", so no matter what temperature I set, she decides that she "knows better" and sets the temperature at whatever level she sees fit.

The only exception seems to be the "90° wash", where the stupid girl understands that I, who am her owner and theoretically her master, want some real heat.

As a consequence, even when a 60° wash would be more than enough, sometimes I need to set a 90° wash just to be sure that I do not get a 48° wash

 

[lavamat_jon]

In a word, no.

Most detergents nowadays will clean even soiled laundry at 30° - which they would struggle with even a few years ago. So for cleaning purposes a boil or even a hot wash isn’t needed nowadays, just a decent biological detergent. I do the majority of laundry at 30° nowadays and everything is just as clean and fresh as it was from using higher temperatures before. Especially important nowadays with the ever increasing costs of energy - we in the UK now pay over double per kWh now compared to this time last year. The bonus being it is much better on laundry too, without fading colours or shrinking.

However for hygiene reasons a 60° wash is more than sufficient, so I will use this for towels etc. however I can’t remember the last time I ran a laundry load at 90°. I used to separately wash the cleaning cloths and kitchen linens etc on a 90° but these come up fine washed at 60.

I always used to wash whites on at least 50 or 60°. Since I started washing whites at lower temperatures over a year ago now I have not noticed a decrease in the whiteness of laundry, in fact it is a lot kinder to elastics on underwear and white t shirts keep their shape without shrinking and are a lot softer too. I hate to think of all the energy I’ve wasted over the years alongside premature wearing out of clothes simply from thinking that hotter was always better.

I do a drum clean every month but that is to descale the machine with citric acid rather than to keep on top of cleanliness - a 60° wash every one or two weeks is more than enough to keep the machine clean.

Jon

 

[appnut]

For hot, I generally will strive for 60C to 70C particularly for terry cloth material used for bathing. Sometimes I"ll even let it go as low as 55C. On extra hot with maximum soil level, I can get my LG to 60C or 70C. The Allergy cycle can get to around 72C. The highest I've seen it get to was about 73C or 74C very briefly and the heater shuts off and temps begin to decline. Like Henrik, I save up my cleaning cloths ass well as meal napkins and do a cold prewash and then longest extra hot wash soil levle using Tide powder with bleath alternative and Biz. I'll be doing tis load in about 2 or 3 days.

My

 

[foraloysius]

I wash my whites on eco90 in my Siemens, it’s reaching a temperature of 75C on that program.

 

[mrboilwash]

My preference for traditional washing habits must be just about as well known to everybody here like Tom`s aversion to the Republicans, so this time I won`t bore you guys with the details again and just leave it at that ;-)

 

[pierreandreply4]

my honest opinion on the subject

Here my honest opinion when it comes to washing clothes everyone is diffrent and each where toughs diffrently and it also depends on washers since models are constently evolving as an exemple my curent daily driver because it mix hot cold water, if i have to use hot water it cause the house plumbing to bang and make noise in the washer during the main fill sure there are solutions to that compared to my previous daily driver since the washer dryer where replace in 2021 it did not do this it also depends on the model of washer since not all models offer the option of extra hot water

 

[askolover]

I will use the 190F setting on the Miele maybe twice a year for a whitening cycle for my T shirts and anything that may be a little dingy. Usually 140 is sufficient.

 

[chachp]

Dish towels, cleaning cloths, etc.

 

<span style="font-family: helvetica;">I was all my kitchen towels and cleaning cloths and things of that nature on the Sanitize cycle on my Miele.  Not sure how hot it gets but it's run at least once a week.  </span>

 

[michael]

Yes

once a week, kitchen towels and bath towels get a pre wash, cottons 95 in my Miele with either Persil bio or Ariel...POWDER!
i use liquid on everything else and have started using minimum iron 20 for other stuff and to be honest, everything comes out clean!
i am a firm believer in a boil wash with prewash though for my whites

 

[suburbanmd]

Boil wash is good for rescuing neglected articles

For example, while cleaning out our house for downsizing we came across a number of sheets and pillowcases that had never been washed properly, and were put aside when they developed yellow stains. They smelled also. A short boil wash, not much over an hour in the Little Giant on a 240V circuit, removed all trace of yellow as well as odor, leaving only the clean boil wash smell. Some of these were cotton-poly. They were all prints, and might have faded a bit, but not noticeably. With all trace of their history removed, they were suitable to donate to a local organization that redistributes household goods directly to people that need them.

 

[johnbee]

When I spend my 3 months in EU every summer I use 95c on my Miele for sheets and towels. They’re white and I want them to stay white.

When I’m back in the US I use the “sanitize” cycle which will reach around 158F on my LG (I used the same cycle when I owned the Miele W3035)
The kitchen towels and wash cloths, which I tend to use a lot to clean oils , the countertop etc, get amazingly clean and stay white without bleach.

 

[mrsalvo]

No, I’m getting excellent results with warm wash and Persil, and even MOL detergents. Detergents have improved in the last couple of years. A good soak before main wash kicks it up a notch.
No need for chorine bleach either.
Barry

 

[anthony]

yes

towels .tea cloths cotton bedding all gets a very hot wash .It keeps the machine clean and no fabric softener will make towels smell like they do when they have been boiled and line dried

 

[tomwasher81]

I do a 90c hygiene wash every other week for dishcloths, cleaning cloths and mop heads. I clean the toilets and toilet bowls with cloths, so I like my cleaning cloths to be hygienically cleaned.

I generally use Persil Colour and add Vanish 0% or some other oxygen bleach to the machine, which comes out nice and white.

I have a Schulthess front-loading machine with an allergy 90c cycle which holds the temperature for a certain amount of time to meet the allergy requirements. It usually reaches and holds around 84/85c.

It's pretty quick, too. It never takes more than 1hr 40mins as it seems to heat up quickly.