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danemodsandy

danemodsandy

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Dec 6, 2006
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You know how some folks find it laughable that a few of us still insist on proper wash temperatures and sorting?

Well, the joke is on those who think cold and lukewarm washes are fine for everything, and that sorting is too obsessive-compulsive for anyone "normal" to be doing.

It seems that researchers are finding gazillions of coliform bacteria in supposedly "clean" wash, due to improper sorting and low-temp washing methods. There's even a name for the result: Sick Laundry Cycle.

Interesting reading is to be found at the link:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/a...eria-transfer-germs-underwear-tea-towels.html
 
I saw that on television last week.

I guess someone will finally educate the oversudsing mamacita's at the Chinese coin op that they can't throw in curtains, dirty mop heads, throw rugs in the same machine as they do their own clothing, especially their own underwear. All you are doing is transfering the dirt & bacteria from one item to another. I have never seen boiling hot water at a coin op before. Set to hot you are lucky to get luke warm.
 
Mmm-Hmm

I remember reading this some time ago, but I lost the link and wasn't able to use it in any of our recent debacles here on AW.org. 

 

To be honest, I thought it was pure logic and common sense not to wash your dishcloths and facecloths with your underwear, mops and baby nappies? Especially at such cool temps! Who here really wants to wipe your face with, err, you know.... Skid-marks?
 
Heavy Bacteria Contamination

Doesn't begin in the washing machine. Bathing habits have to play some role in the equation. Probably a larger part than divulged...

Malcolm
 
Why is It?

That most Americans, think it's okay to simply throw everything straight in (zero sorting, colors with whites, underwear with any load) and just select "Cold" and hit Start?

I've seen it happen, countless times. I just don't understand, why this is a acceptable practice.
 
<a name="start_48133.697970">just select "Cold" and hit Start</a>

 

Because that is what the industry promotes. Been to Sears two years ago and even back then, many washers would turn on as soon as you opened the lid or door and default to the Normal cycle with warm temp. laundry.reviewed.com/ used to give the temps achieved on the Normal cycle and like 99% of the machines remained under 90F.

 

Besides, instruction manuals will tell you that the Normal cycle is okay for sheets, towels, everyday wear, jeans etc. Basically all your laundry... except maybe for wedding dresses and the like. So why "bother" and turn that dial when Normal will do, huh? 

 

And what really gets me is when I see people on YouTube presenting their new front loader saying how it has all those cycles and when you spin the dial, all the options are already preset. Like there wouldn't be buttons to change the presets! Oh no, why think when Whirlpool already did it all for me? D'uh! 
 
I don't have

A front loading machine... And I ain't aiming to get one.
I use a standard T.L with a Hot wash/ warm rinse setting. And of course I can easily control temps for wash and rinse with my Maytag Wriger.
I mention this only because I feel rinse temps are almost just as important. As well as second rinses, and of course proper sorting.
Can't remember when I washed ANYTHING in cold. I know it must seem rally "old school" but have never been able to get my mind around the concept that laundry can get clean in cold water!
I haven't been to a laundry mat in years (and I ain't aiming to) but I thought everyone at least knew how to sort... I guess I've been living in a fools paradise LOL
 
Well, I will stake my claim on the patent for extra strength, extra waxey, extra scent, extra germicidal fabric softner. "eliminates the need for personal hygiene", pesky sorting and wishing for abundant hot water. Perfect for the home or use at your local coin op laundry.
I have always said if people still washed diapers the last decade of laundry room foolishness never would of happened.
Sandy, thank YOU for posting this!
alr
 
If you have to use the laundramat-the user before puts in his dumptruck full of laundry containing everything from his underwear and socks to his towels and tablecloths,sheets.Then YOU get to use that machine when he's done?Thats the value of your OWN laundry equipment!I don't do cold cycles-the cold cycle is unused on my machine-only hot and warm loads for me.I use the TL machines,too.And-that laundry patron before you used the cold cycle!!GROSS!!I think laundry equipment marketers and detergent marketers should ditch the cold loads stuff and go back to what works!Remember another thread about this or similar.
 
But the government LOVES the cold cycle. Think how many amoebas it saves!

I have never washed below 100F--at which body soil becomes liquid instead of solid--and never will. Neither did mom or grandma and trust me, people had better common sense back then. Just because an ad agency says to do something doesn't make it right. More likely makes it wrong.

Also and more importantly, do NOT touch your face between touching a shoppingcart handle and washing your hands. Shoppingcart handles are the filthiest thing any of us encounter in daily life. Which tells us something (nasty) about the public's general state of hygiene.
 
I also blame the textile industrie for the low temp trend.
"Underlabeling" has been going on for decades. I dare to say that most clothes on the market can easily withstand much hotter washing than the care lable suggests.
OTOH on rare occasions the quality is so bad that even if washed in cold the color bleeds and or the item shrinks.
 
40C equals 104F, which is warm.

As everyone knows (this conversation has popped up before), I wash all my kitchen and personal whites together, using the Sanitize cycle (more for stain removal in kitchen items) along with liquid chlorine bleach.
I also use the Sanitize setting on the dryer with that load; so I'm covered.

All my kitchen, bath, and bed linens are white, as are my undergarments. They can all withstand a hot wash and chlorine bleach.

Here are my thoughts:

1) Is there documentation of doctors actually diagnosing illnesses due to laundered items?

2) People have washed in cold or warm water for decades. We'd like to think there were "good old days" when everyone used hot water on bacteria-laden items, and it's just not universally true. I knew people who refused to wash in anything but warm/cool water because they felt hot water was too hard on fabrics. This was in the mid-1960s.

3) In the linked article, bacteria levels were checked on items emerging from the washer. I'd like to see how those levels change after clothes are dried in a dryer....or on a clothesline. The vast majority people use a dryer, and I'd be willing to bet the farm those bacteria levels are substantially reduced. How long can bacteria live on dry fabrics?

4) Do you know anyone who sanitizes the washer after every load to prevent bacterial transfer to the next?
 
Frigilux:

The article says that part of what the researchers found was unremoved particles of fecal matter.

Germs dead or not, I don't want that on my clothes or lingering in my washer.

I guess this explains the overpowering flowery/bubblegum smell of many laundry products today.
 
Well me, I bleach the hell out of everything, so if there are survivors--good luck.
I saw a study not long ago, and I believe it has been discussed before, that even if the germys survive the wash cycle, they are greatly reduced if not killed in the drying process either through heat of the dryer or ultraviolet rays from the sun.

I don't wash together, and run a regular clean cycle. I only use cool water if the gently fabric demands it, and I use mostly all white towels so they can withstand the LCB. If there is someone sick in the family their linens are washed on the sanitize cycle.

BTW--Dishes are always washed on sanitize. I know they are contaminated again when I touch them, but I have had the satisfaction of killing the little buggers to begin with.

Remember, Chlorine is your friend.
 
Good article. It harks back to what we learned growing up with moms in the 50s and 60s, where cleaning and sanitizing wash started with sorting; like, underclothes, bedding, towels,rags, delicates, non-delicates, colors separate from whites or light colors. Water temperatures were mostly hot with cold rinses. Delicates were hand-washed in Woolite(the original chemistry). Drying was either summer sun-dried or by dryer on hot or warm. Disinfectants used included chlorine bleach with some detergent(I remember little, but Oxydol, 20 Mule Team Borax and Tide were common). Like pasteurization and boiling water used to sterilize early cloth and instruments in surgery, heat (hot water) works wonders. Cold rinses effectively remove remaining surfactant residues.

Clean and sanitized becomes a state of mind, you live in more germ-filled company than you'll ever want to know about. If paltry sums of cold water with some disinfectant added is achieving the results you expected, have a fecal-free life. :-)

I think the new Energy-Star ratings should have a disclaimer: " Caution, Energy Star Rated. Use at own discretion. "

my2sense
 
Also and more importantly, do NOT touch your face between touching a shoppingcart handle and washing your hands. Shoppingcart handles are the filthiest thing any of us encounter in daily life. Which tells us something (nasty) about the public's general state of hygiene.

Stores sometimes have those sanitizing wipes at the front entrance to wipe off your cart handle with. But all to often nobody monitors them to see if the dispensers are empty. Usually that's the case.

Whenever we get home from the grocery store the fist thing we do is go into the house and wash our hands. Then we bring in an unload the groceries. In the past few years we have found that we get sick far less often than we used to.

The people at the coin op who put everything in one washer use the Wascomat Senior machines, I think they are triple loaders. We only use the double loaders that are in far off corners of the room. Nobody seems to use those unless the place is packed.
 
I sort my clothes and use the Sanitary option on towels and other things on my G.E. Harmony.

With my machine I have to use the stain cycle to unlock the heater that is in the washer.

It does take about four hours to wash when I do that because the washer pauses and rotates slowly until it gets scalding hot.

I have to admit that G.E. is a great washer so far and we got it about 6 months after they were on the market.

We have no problems out of it...It cleans great but I still want a Jet cone or a Kelvinator bad.
 
I agree with Whirlcool about hand washing.

I take the subway to work, and I use sanitizer the moment I open my office door. I also wash my hands first thing whenever I get home, regardless if I drove, took the subway, or walked. I have cut down the number of colds I have gotten to about one every couple of years.
 
I keep hand sanitizer in the car and in my shlep bag. I use the sanitizing wipe at the entrance to the grocery store and then, when I get back to my car, I use a squirt of the alcohol-based sanitizer on my hands and make sure to wipe a bit of it on the end of the car key that I have touched. I wash my hands after bringing in the groceries and then every item I unload from the bags is cleaned with a disinfecting cleaner before going in the refrigerator, freezer, cupboard or pantry. Anal, I know, but I'd rather be anal than have e. coli, staph etc. in my kitchen. I don't touch anything in the Metro system unless I have to for balancing and then I whip out the sanitizer.
 
I carry hand sanitizer in my pocket

especially in the winter I have a bottle in my coat pocket.
My daughter was a premmie and we had to be very careful of germs. I just got in the habit.
 

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