Minimum laundry room temperatures

[lordkenmore]

I have been wondering recently how cold it can get in a laundry room for "safe" washer operation. By "safe" I mean that the washer will survive, and won't have undue wear. Also that the washer will get the clothes clean.

Obviously, the temperature needs to be above freezing. But how far above freezing? I hear stories of washers getting cranky with slow agitation in a basement. Does this present a problem--or just an annoyance?

To a degree, this is curiosity--but I am considering setting up a washer in an attached area off the place where I live. It's not directly heated, but it also doesn't hit freezing. Then, again, it never gets very warm out there, either. Except in summer...which, right now, I feel like cannot come a minute too soon, and for reasons more than washing machine operation!

 

[kenmore71]

I can only offer anecdotal advice on this one. I really don't think it's a major issue with most machines. If the transmissions have a decent amount of lubrication in them they will warm up rather quickly at normal operating speeds.

I will certainly say that my 1967 Maytag comes up to full agitation speed about 10 seconds faster when the the garden level laundry room is 90 degrees in the summer than when it's 50-55 in the winter.

I don't think there are really any major issues with getting clothes clean related to a low temperature laundry room. Obviously, if you are putting 140 degree water into a 50 degree machine you are going to start off with somewhat cooler wash water than if the machine and room were 70 degrees. Now if you really need HOT water the simplest solution is to raise your water heater by 10 or 15 degrees when you're going to do laundry. Many of my washing machine collector friends keep their water heaters set between 150 and 155 all the time.

One issue I have had in cooler temps is with a DD WP machine in the winter. If this machine is used for a brief 2-4 minute pre-wash, it doesn't seem to warm things up enough for the neutral drain cam to engage. If a more normal 10-14 minutes of agitation is done, then the cam always engages. I don't think this behavior is necessarily typical of these machines and I think is more indicative of the fact that the neutral drain cam and its related parts are worn and should be replaced. But, at least at this point, it seems to be somewhat temperature related.

Also bear in mind that in places like southern california and arizona it is not at all unusual to have the landry appliances in a garage, carport or even under an overhang near the back patio. In the wintertime, the days are often relatively warm, but the nights get rather chilly, often in the 40 - 50 degree range.

That's my two cents on the subject.

 

[laundryshark]

Com Op Machines and Proper Temperature.

I have had instances where the coin-op machines in our building have malfunctioned due to inadequate warmth in their respective laundry rooms. Last time I phoned for the vendor to service a machine, he told the property manager that he would not do so till the room was restored to a warmer temperature. That was in reference to our first floor laundry room, an outside facing room, which needed a seal around the door to prevent cold air from leaking in. Recently, I still had to inform the property manager to service the heater in our first floor laundry room, as the room was cold, (even with the door and window closed), the heater was not producing enough warmth when turned on. The unit does not have a temperature control, just a switch for heat, off, and air conditioning. My general rule is not to run the washer if the machine feels ice cold to the touch. When the machine feels warm or at room temperature, then go ahead and use it. Even if a machine still runs at colder temperatures, listen to the sounds of your machine. Notice the sounds of grinding or clattering that do not occur when running the washer at room temperature.--Laundry Shark

 

[laundryshark]

Coin-Op Machines...Sorry for the silly typo.

--Laundry Shark

 

[henry200]

In 1983 I bought my first house here  in St. Paul and installed my ca. 1980 Kenmore washer in the uninsulated basement where the only heat was what radiated off the pipes exiting the boiler going to the radiators upstairs.  During brutally cold spells I'm sure the temperature down there dipped into the 40s.  The house was sold in 1996 and when the house went on the market again in 2010 I went to have a look and that Kenmore was still there.  That the washer lasted 30 years at all might be considered remarkable by some standards.  I would say that serving all those years in an essentially unheated space (in Minnesota!) did it no harm.

 

[tolivac]

in my neighborhood-some homes have their laundry equipment in the garage-a mixture of both TL and FL washers.My house has a laundry room-it gets quite cool in there during the winter-sometimes the WP washer has to "get going"Its OK when you put hot water loads in it.and the room warms up with the door closed and the washer has a warm or hot load in it.the laundry rom is on an outside wall.

 

[combo52]

COLD LAUNDRY ROOM TEMPERATURES

Cold temps down to almost freezing shouldn't much if any effect on the machinery or the laundry process in general with a few exceptions.   Wash water temperatures will not be much affected in TL washers as the mass of cold material is very small compared to the volume of water being introduced to the machine. This is quite different with a FL or low water use TL washer and in fact it is always had to get a decent hot wash in these type machines.   Dryer times will be longer if the room temperature is 50 degrees colder but it will likely still use less energy to run the dryer in a cold room than attempt to heat the room and all the make up air needed for the dryers operation. I have had a 1978 WP Imperial Mark 12 gas dryer out on my screed porch for over 10 years and it is used summer and winter with no ill effects.   It is normal for WP DD washers with neutral drain to skip the ND if the transmission is not fully warmed up. Even brand new machines will do this.

 

[passatdoc]

I don't live in a severe weather climate, but my laundry area is in the attached garage. Many homes here have this arrangement, which offers several advantages vs. an "indoor" laundry room:

1. Garage slab is six inches lower than the house floor. If there is a leak, water stays away from the house. Furthermore, the garage slab is imperceptibly sloped toward the driveway/street. If you dump a bucket of water on the floor, it will flow towards the street.

2. Dryer heat stays out of the house and keeps it cooler in summer. We don't need A/C here in summer due to the mild climate, and keeping heat out of the house helps.

3. Not a deal breaker for me, but some prefer to have the noise out in the garage.

Garage laundry areas tend to be more popular in single story homes. In newer two story homes, the trend is to have an upstairs laundry area (sometimes with no drain or pan below the machines---yikes), which can lead to flooding and vibration (FL) issues.

Building code requirements specify that a garage here must have either windows, or else ventilation grates, presumably to moderate summer heat. My garage has the grates, some are a foot off the floor and some are six feet off the floor. When we are having cold spells here (defined as 30-40F overnight), the garage can become surprisingly cool because of the grates: recently when it was 33F overnight, I checked my garage thermometer and it was 48F inside the garage. We occasionally have record frosts down to the mid-20s, but I never bothered to check the garage temp to see how cold it gets in that situation.

Never had any washer/dryer issues (modern Frigidaire 2140/1442 gas dryer) operating in a 50F garage. Of course, since my simple FL has no internal heater, putting hot water into a 50 F machine will lower the wash temp. I don't tamper with my water heater temp, it's about 140F, but in really cold weather I will prime the hot water line first before starting the machine. The laundry area shares a common wall with the kitchen sink and DW, so I open the sink tap until it's good and hot, which primes the hot water pipes in the wall. About the only thing not primed is the supply hose from wall to washer, so if it HAS to be hot, I start the washer empty, wait until the inside is all steamed up, then I hit Cancel/Drain, empty the washer, and then fill with clothes and restart.

The major impact for me is that I never wash on Cold in winter, but this more has to do with the ground water being very cold, and my machine lacking Auto Temp Control, than the actual garage temp. Apparently Frigidaire has modified the 2140 so that it now has Auto Temp Control, at least for Cold: there are now two Cold settings, Auto Cold and Water Line Cold. I read the user manual online and cannot determine whether ATC kicks in only for the Auto Cold setting, or whether it's also in play for Hot and Warm, in which case you can't undo it for Hot and you are stuck with their interpretation of hot.

Note: growing up in San Diego, I occasionally saw washer/dryers housed in a covered breezeway (that is, a roof overhead, but otherwise open to elements). Some friends of mine have a two-home property (detached garage was converted to a one-bedroom cottage,originally for the grandparents). The rear (grandparent) house had a screened=in porch (but no windows, always open to breezes) and the laundry machines were in this area. The rear house is now rented to a building contractor who enlarged the house by enclosing the former screened porch, which displaced the washer/dryer. He built an outside annex against the side of the main (front) house so that it's enclosed on top and sides. The front is a simple bamboo rolldown shade, and the stacked machines are doing fine.

The property is owned by a high school friend who no longer lives in the area, but she uses the front house as an occasional weekend home. She rents the back house to the contractor (likewise, a high school friend) who has done all sorts of upgrades on both houses, for which she simply pays for the supplies. In return, I suspect she charges way-below-market rent. The house is about six blocks from the ocean, so you'd think there would be salt/corrosion problems, but so far the machines look fine and operate without major issues. [this post was last edited: 12/19/2011-10:08]

http://manuals.frigidaire.com/prodinfo_pdf/Webster/137374400een.pdf

 

[jamiel]

I had an unheated garage with a Maytag set in Chicago without problems, although I did put a lightbulb in the tub of the washer for an hour or so before doing laundry. Occasionally I'd notice the water in the cold hose would get frozen, but never had a problem with the washer from the cold (if I forgot to turn on the lightbulb, I wouldn't get water). It was 25 years old or so (center dial) and died. The Frigemore FLs were just introduced at the time, and I inquired of Frigidaire whether they could handle low temps and didn't get a good answer one way or another. Ended up with an Estate (Whirlpool) world-washer (figuring that a washer made for the 3rd world/entire world might be better with periodic freezes).

 

[polkanut]

Our laundry room can get as low as 45-50 degrees during a cold snap, so the night before I'm going to do laundry I'll open the door and let the room warm up overnight.  IMO it helps the machine, and makes the room more comfortable to be in overall.  Whether it really makes a difference, I don't know, but I'm sure it makes it easier on the transmission though.