Is "warm" the new "cold" for winter?

[danmantn]

I've been spoiled by my 2003 Whirlpool. It has probably the best iteration of the washer controlled temperature...it allows the user to select if you would like it to monitor temperatures for cold or warm water and mix with enough hot water to bring to temperature...it does NOT mess with hot--remains at tap temperatures. So in the winter time, super cold tap water is brought up to an appropriate temperature (more like luke-warm). Newer versions of this feature don't work as well as I've read on the boards - such as dumbing down hot water, but I digress.

On washers that don't have this feature, I'm wondering if people still use "cold" as "cold" in the winter time, or do you (as I do), switch to warm as to not use such frigid cold water to wash in (ick!). The "winter warm" is more luke warm than cold, but not what a warm wash would be say in the summer time.

I don't bath in ice cubes, nor wash my hands or dishes in ice water, so I can't see doing the same with my clothes.

Thoughts? Methods? Does it even matter?

 

[kenmoreguy64]

Hi Dan,

I don't use a fully hot water setting very often if at all, but I like something good and warm, and you're right - with a non-thermostatic mixing valve such as in my Kenmore belt drives, winter temps require me to add a lot of pure hot to counteract the frigid tap cold. Standard warm will yield a machine full of what I would call summertime tap cold water, maybe even cooler than that.

Our cold tap water is so cold it makes my hands throb if I have to use it to wash them. I don't even like to put water that cold in for the rinse, but I don't have a lot of choice on a couple machines.

The reverse is true for the summer - our tap water gets luke warm, and I have to add cold or the warm is too warm on dark loads.

Gordon

 

[yogitunes]

for the machines withou the auto temp adjustment...I start the TL machine with hot, add my detergent to make sure it disolves, and after about 5 or 6 inches, I switch it to cold...

I have well water, and I have been checking the temp lately, and it very close to 40 degrees in the winter, too cold....I even notice in the shower, I have to adjust the temp knob hotter, and my hot water is set at 160 degrees, but during the summer, I have a set spot on the dial for the perfect temp...

 

[logixx]

How come ATC fluctuates so much? Should it not guarantee (more or less) a uniform temperature regardless of the inlet temps?

FWIW: temperature chart of the MayPool Centennial washer

 

[DADoES]

 
The target temps in case cited above are not supposed to be uniform across the board. As per the chart, the temp purposely varies per the cycle/fabric selection.

 

[lordkenmore]

How come ATC fluctuates so much?

Ideally, it should guarantee wash temperatures. Being a bit cynical, though, I suspect that whatever control system is used is probably whatever is the cheapest option. Cheap options are often less than ideal.

 

[lordkenmore]

I've ceased using tap cold water at any time for washing clothes. I'm stuck using a WCI style Frigidaire top load right now. (Yuck!) Past experience with a similar Frigidaire taught me that cold water simply did not work.

If I select "warm" wash, I get a final temperature that's about 85 degrees Fahrenheit. That's the lowest I ever go now, and it's high enough to wash many things.

 

[toggleswitch2]

I dont use 'tap cold' in winter, but rather 'warm'.

 

[surgilator_68]

For people who pay attention and care about what is going on, yes most do switch to warm in the winter. However I must say that 90% of the homes I go into on a daily basis still have the water set to cold. I've also noticed that when given the option for temp controlled water most people opt for non temp controlled because most will tell you it does not make a difference.

My cold water right now is 43.6 degrees, hot is 138.3. I have a thermostatic valve tempering the cold water on the washer which brings it to 75 degrees +/- .5 degree year round. Warm water wash is around 105 degrees.

 

[danmantn]

I have a friend who NEVER, I mean N E V E R uses anything but cold and has strict orders for her daughter to do the same...drives me nuts. Of course her washer is pretty rank as I was forced to use it one time when visiting in Ohio. Ick!

 

[yogitunes]

I have a sister and a sister-in-law who both only wash in COLD water....the machines are only hooked up to the cold line, the hot is capped off....

both their husbands are mechanics...I know their work clothes aren't getting clean....

and the smell/rank/musty/moldy odor is thruout their homes and gets worse as you get near the laundry room........How can you leave the house and return and not smell this when you walk in the door?....yuck!

I have tried washing and soaking in COLD water...but there is a METHOD to making it work and get clean clothes...you can't just set it and forget it!

I do like using TIDE COLD WATER...but just the same I have to add some hot water....

do you remember when TIDE did the commercial of washing clothes in a glass container with ICE CUBES and WATER to show no matter how cold, the clothes came clean?

I miss COLD POWER detergent of the 70's

 

[surgilator_68]

I have Tide Cold water....I use it in Warm or Hot. Counter productive huh? I just couldn't bring myself to turn that knob all the way to cold.

 

[sudsman]

In most commerical plants

laundry managers have a summer and winter formula we use.
Most of the time the difference is that in summer rinses and prewash are cold.In the winter rinses and prewash or "flush" temps are changed to Warm. Esp. in this area. Winter water temps can get as low as 35 and summer temps can reach over 100 both will set stains quickly if not compensated for. Blood will set just as fast in cold water as it will in hot water. However some older plants still use what is known as A "hot break formula" where 1 lb of alkali per 100 lb load is added while the machine is being loaded then it is started at 150 to 160 and stains will not set. I still use this formula sometimes if in a pinch for surgery work. As it cuts formula time by almost 20 mins. It is widely used in plants where there is not enough capacity or a problem getting the temperature up after cooler flushes or prewash.

 

[tomturbomatic]

"a problem getting the temperature up after cooler flushes or prewash."

Lee, do you mean like because of an inadequate steam coil in the washer? When I worked at the hospital, we used those disolve away/rinse away bags for isolation linen and I thought I remembered them saying that they did not dissolve as well at higher temps, but maybe I am wrong. The technology has no doubt changed in 40 years, too, but the initial flush (and given what was in some of those linens that is the operative word) in the big side loader was below 100F.

 

[passatdoc]

Yes--I don't have Auto Temp Control on my Frigidaire 2140. Although I'm in a temperate climate, cold water line temps here in winter are about 50 F (10 C) so I'd never do a cold water wash at this time of year. In summer, cold water line temps are in the high 60s (close to 20 C) so it's something to consider with Perm Press loads (my Perm Press clothes are all-cotton but have a no-wrinkle finish; no synthetics).

The 2140 is a great machine, really gets clothes clean and only cost $600 ($470 net after $100 water rebate and $30 gas rebate). However, had I ponied up an extra $100 at purchase time for a 2940, the Auto Temp Control would have saved money on gas bills by bleeding in enough hot water to allow a proper Cold wash (70F/20C), and by keeping Cold and Warm washes at the proper level in summer (I am probably using more hot water than is necessary in summer when I do Warm loads)

 

[sudsman]

Tom

The bags you are refering too are now known as "melt a way" bags.They are still used to some extent but not a much as they once were. Due to the fact it did take 100 or more for them to open and start the melting process. Many Laundry managers had problems with them clogging the drains in the first flush and prewash. I was one them. A lot of plants no longer have steam . Due to the strict regulations placed on boilers in the last few years . Also their are now fewer Certified Laundry Managers that steam boiler operations were part of the certification. Ironers and water heating is now mostly gas or some ironers are now thermal oil. Cost of the melt a way bags are very high and some plants just cannot afford the cost. The other problem with the bags is in areas such as ours it is not uncommon for the temperature of the waiting soiled linen in summer to reach over 100 Degrees and the bags start melting on other linen and open up before they ever get to the main plant. The final problem with the bags is that when wet linen is placed in it and they sit over a weekend they will start to melt anyway even at a lower temp if exposed to excess mostiure long enough.

 

[randycmaynard]

Isolation Bags........

We used those at the hospital I worked at during the mid '80s and, generally, had very few problems in the machines as far as them melting as they should. The big problem was the bags breaking down after sitting in the hot humid laundry sorting area in summer and getting wet or sitting in damp/wet laundry for a period of time. The machines, ironer etc were all steam at the time I worked there.

The issue I had is that the supervisor and the, so called, forman didn't really care so much about things being as clean as they could and I despised having to send things up knowing that the laundring process was not nearly as up to speed as it should have and could have been! I remeber the forman, many times, stuffing the big 450 Milnors to the point that the laundry in the middle did not even get water on it which means that it was not clean - they didn't care either! The last year I worked there they put me on an afternoon/evening shift and after the "bosses" left I got the work done and made sure it was clean - never overloaded the 450s.... I would run full capacity (225 each side), right measure of alk detergent, sour/softener etc. The "bosses" were not pleased that I didn't put out as much as the regular shift did and told them that I would rather have things done right and things clean rather than running through and stuffing the machines past capacity just to fullfill stats for some nut job upstairs who didn't know or give a damn about how the laundry dept was supposed to work and they certainly didn't give a damn about the people working there!

Well, I stop here or I'll really go on a tear/rant.... the forman that I worked under is probably the only person in my life that I've ever come close to hating - he was a lying SOB from hell! He's dead now so I'm trying to be respectful....
How many patients at that hospital were made more sick via infection from our poorly, at times, processed laundry? God only knows......

 

[vintagesearch]

ohh the stones are coming my way....

or perhaps ice cubes im a cold water user! only for colors or anything with prints however whites and sheets i use hot and our washer temperatures are pretty accurate cold is cold, wamr is warm (usually warmer in the winter) and hot is ouch hot! none of the items i wash in cold stink or come out filthy never had that issue anywho to each there own....

 

[qsd-dan]

With the tempered valve I installed 6 months ago, cold is 80F, warm is 108F, and hot is 140F.

After installing the temper valve, all of my cold wash items were quickly turning the wash water almost black within seconds. Now that all cold water clothes have been washed a couple of times, everything is now normal but it was a rude awakening just how important it's for cold water temps to never dive below 75F.

 

[yogitunes]

Actually its simpler to select WARM and turn your hot water valve until it reaches a COLD enough temp that works for you...if your machine has a WARM/WARM option, you get the same for both wash and rinse...