Is There a FL Washer Available in the U. S. That Heats Wash Water to 206 F?

[gredmondson]

Miele Washer model W1215

I just found a Miele Washer model W1215 (stainless steel cabinet) that is available in Burlingame, close to San Francisco, at the Atherton Appliance Warehouse. It has the 95 degree Centigrade Sanitize heated wash cycle. In fact, it looks a lot like the W1203 that I have in my house. It is new, still in the box, but it is about three years old, or so the salesman said. They are asking $600.00 plus $150 for delivery and set up (needs to have a European 240 volt plug)). I do not thnk I can find a better deal.

 

[launderess]

Max temp on Miele

Haven't run a 200F wash for ages in my Miele 1070 so have no idea if that is the actual temp reached. The only way to find out would be to drain water out of the machine after it reached the temp but before the "cool down" rinse starts. Door won't open if water is above a certain level and one dare not use the manual release! *LOL*

 

[sudsmaster]

Surgeon's hands...

If you've ever watched a surgeon wash his hands, it a long and extremely thorough procedure. They have special soaps and brushes and they get their hands squeaky clean. On top of that, they don sterile gloves so even if there are bacteria left on their hands (likely, at least some) the gloves will block them. In the operating room they keep a sterile field and if there is any breach of the field they go through all sorts of routines to re-establish it.

That said, for most healthy people 160F is hot enough, coupled with modern detergents, to get clothes clean, white, and "sanitary". Bearing in mind that the only really sanitary condition is achieved by subjecting the fabric to moist heat in a pressure cooker (autoclave). Even then, there are some organisms (like raccoon worm eggs) that can survive even that (they need to be flamed to kill them), and quasi-organisms like prion proteins (which can cause mad cow disease) that also require flame treatment for complete inactivation.

There is also a growing body of medical thought that too-clean conditions when a child is raised has resulted in an increase in problems like allergies. There's also a school of thought that the lack of intestinal parasites in the modern western world has led to other problems like irritable bowel syndrome and Crohn's disease.

I have a Miele that can do boil washes. I don't use it at that temp very much if at all, because it's extremely hard on fabrics. I would call it the diaper setting.

 

[launderess]

Surgical Pre-Op Scrub

Is ten minutes at least and there is no way to "sterlise" human skin. What the prep does is reduce the number of *germs* to a level that is about as minimal as one is going to get.

Again the word to remember is biofilm. Germs are often remarkably sticky things and thus to remove them you've got to disloge whatever layer/surface they are clinging to; happily the human skin has many external layers and grows more to replace what is shed so there is normally no problems.