question is chlorine bleach good with hot water from time to time to wash white bedsheets?

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For those of you with experience, how hot do you feel comfortable with on the hot wash for your whites that have elastic ?

 

I have experimented with temps for years now and find anything much beyond 157F (top loader) will ripple the elastic in my underwear. If you're having positive results with 160F and elastic is coming out damage free, stay with that temp and don't exceed it.
 
I have underwear going back 13 years using oxy bleach at 160F and a 3 hour soak and they're still fine. I wonder why yours is only lasting 1 year at 140F? Are you using chlorine bleach?
 
I’m wearing white Fruit of the Loom briefs that are 7 years old that get washed weekly with hot water and 1/2 cup LCB and the elastic is still holding up just fine and there aren’t any holes in them either.

 

  I think that the problem with bleach is either using too much or pouring it directly on the fabric.  If you use the bleach dispenser or dilute the bleach in a quart of water before adding it and don’t use copious amounts there shouldn’t be any problems with damage to elastic and/or fabric.

 

Eddie
 
I always wash my white briefs, t-shirts, and socks in hot water (140° f) and chlorine bleach.  I add 1/2 cup of regular (usually Clorox) bleach to the 18 gallons of hot water in my Maytag A606 when there's 4 minutes left on the wash.  Of course I have my lid switch bypassed so I can add diluted bleach while the machine is agitating.  The elastic on the briefs eventually weakens after about 70+ washes, but they sure are clean!

 

I don't bleach my sheets because they're not white.
 
Elastic Issues

I regularly use Tide w/ bleach powder, oxi-clean, and Lysol laundry sanitizer. I’ve had some items for years. I think line drying those items has helped. Some may prefer to air dry/low heat just for this load.

The spin dryer greatly reduces machine or line dry time. I have both Panda and Ninja with the overall win going to Ninja.

As for hot water, I have my hot water temp set at about 120. For the top load, it is tap hot. I’m not sure what my LG fl heated the water to. All I can say is it’s sani cycle worked wonders on getting the toughest messes and smells out with the internal water heater probably making that difference. My Maytag mvwp575 is probably the best wash action in a top load that can be purchases today, but not practical or safe to crank water heater up just for clothes.
 
Elastics

are worn out by several factors, excessive heat is only one of them.
Just like rubber spandex or lycra threads are susceptible to high pH of powdered detergents or chlorine bleach, residual body oils from using not enough detergent, too much fabric softener and I think acids like in laundry sours should be avoided too.

But as always it`s all about where the personal priorities are set.
Textile lifespan vs cleanliness.

Elastic bands sold for sewing in Germany have always been "kochfest" (boilproof) because we expect it this way.
Maybe things don`t last forever this way but thinking about the study about Japanese laundry habits (in cold water) where it seems to be a give to replace textiles after 16 wash - wear cycles because of the yellowing and smelly build up isn`t sustainable too.

So if you like to use chlorine bleach on your sheets, fitted or not go ahead and knock yourself out!


 
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