Do You Wash Your Clothes With Hot/Warm Or Cold Water?

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Kylie1969

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Hey guys

Just interested in knowing how many of you wash your clothes in hot/warm water compared to those who wash in cold water?

We used to wash in warm, but for the last year or so in cold water...but are now thinking of maybe going back to washing in warm water!

It will be very interesting to know :)
 
Whites - Hot, the rest in warm. If I'm washing stuff in cold it means I am not following the directions to hand wash or dry clean the item...
 
Always cold. More stains get removed that way.

I don't have a lot of whites, but wash them normally in cold water. Every so often I do a bleach wash in the sink to brighten them up.
 
I usually wash clothes in cold. I agree, it seems to get stains out better, and colors don't run. Towels are washed in warm.
 
This is interesting already :)

So it seems cold is a popular way, we may stick with that ;)

I am thinking though with sheets, maybe warm would be a better option, what do you guys think?
 
The labels on my sheets say to wash them in cold, though that doesn't make sense to me. But that's what I do.
 
I just read the directions on a few of our sheets (which I guess I should have done in the first place LOL) and it says Warm, gentle machine wash...so I guess no more washing the sheets in cold for us :LOL: :LOL:
 
Has anyone with a front loader noticed that towels are not nice and soft after washing? I have been reading up about front loaders since we are getting one next week and I have read a lot about people finding their towels are like surfboard and really rough :ermm:

Also, does anyone use white vinegar in their machines instead of a fabric softener?
 
Has anyone with a front loader noticed that towels are not nice and soft after washing? I have been reading up about front loaders since we are getting one next week and I have read a lot about people finding their towels are like surfboard and really rough :ermm:

Also, does anyone use white vinegar in their machines instead of a fabric softener?

I never use fabric softener with my towels, only white vinegar in the rinse cycle. Softener apparently builds up on towels and makes them less absorbent. I use half a dryer sheet for the clothes.
 
Cold water only with a 15-30 minute soak (work clothes) if you use liquid detergent.

Hot water is only needed to liquefy dry detergents.
 
Yes we use powder detergent...so in that respect it is probably best for us to use warm water, so it doesnt clog up the machine

DL, I was thinking we would continue using vinegar but I have just read this on Choice

"Miele don't recommend the use of vinegar in the final rinse as its acidic nature can damage rubber components in the washing machine over time"

Choice Reviews
 
i'm with z, doing cold water washes, and brightening whites as needed, separately. washing clothing in cold water prevents much of the shrinkage which was at one time a big problem for me. i was constantly ruining my clothes with heat from the washer and dryer, in spite of careful attention to wash/dry instructions. also, i think cold water washing causes less fading of colors, doesn't it?
 
Yes I have read that really hot water can cause shrinkage V, but apparently warm water is okay :)

I am not sure about the colours fading...once again maybe with hot water...but it may be fine with warm and of course cold
 
i'm with z, doing cold water washes, and brightening whites as needed, separately. washing clothing in cold water prevents much of the shrinkage which was at one time a big problem for me. i was constantly ruining my clothes with heat from the washer and dryer, in spite of careful attention to wash/dry instructions. also, i think cold water washing causes less fading of colors, doesn't it?
I'm pretty sure you are right about the fading.

I only wash in cold water. I regularly do a bleach wash (to kill germs) of tea towels, kitchen towels, J-Cloths (Handiwipes south of the border), and white bleachable stuff that needs it.

I don't bother with fabric softener and my towels are soft, even when I line dry them.

If I had a "boil" cycle, like they do in Danish laundromats, I might use that instead of bleach for germ killing. I just don't think my hot cycle is hot enough to do that.

BTW, drying towels on hot is what shrinks that decorative stripe and gives you "ruffled" towels.
 
Taxy, you have a front loader...do you wash on a slower spin cycle and make sure there is lots of water in the machine?

As everywhere I am reading, people are complaining about hard, stiff towels after washing them in front loaders?

When we get our new one, we are going to make sure there is lots of water for the towels to soak/float in and rinse them on a slower rinse cycle
 
Taxy, you have a front loader...do you wash on a slower spin cycle and make sure there is lots of water in the machine?

As everywhere I am reading, people are complaining about hard, stiff towels after washing them in front loaders?

When we get our new one, we are going to make sure there is lots of water for the towels to soak/float in and rinse them on a slower rinse cycle
Nope, no extra water and for towels (actually everything that isn't too delicate and doesn't wrinkle easily) I use the fast spin. I do push the button for extra rinse. I use liquid detergent and use half as much as recommended for top loaders. Yes, the stuff still gets clean.

It might be, in part, the Melaleuca laundry detergent. It rinses out really well.
 
we wash mostly in cold or a mix of warm and cold (warm wash, cold rinse). the few cotton whites in hot.

but we do not use a dryer. in my experience, using a gas or electric dryer is a clothes killer.

we hang our clothes on lines in the basement in an effort to both save the clothes and save energy. in late spring, summer, and early fall we hang most clothes outside (except undies, unlike our uncomfortably close neighbors :ermm: it makes you look at them in a different way than i should have to :()
during winter, the heating plant (an oil burner) is in the basement, so it keeps the basement warm and at relatively low humidity. drying is free :). during approx. 5 months of summer, we have to run a dehumidifier to do the same job. but it's fairly efficient. much more than air conditioning as the dry heat doesn't need to be expelled.

this method mostly saves both clothing and energy, but it has a tertiary effect. since i finished the basement into a little living area for my parrots, it helps to regulate humidity by hanging wet clothes in the heated, dryer winter months as well as the (dehumidified and warmer) humid summer months.

so for us, the temp of the water has less of an effect on clothes as the drying.
 
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I am part of the cold water crowd.

We have front loading high efficiency machines in the apartment complex where I live and they work great at washing the clothes and removing the excess moisture prior to placing them in the dryer. The issue we have with some of the machines is that over time they develop a very unpleasant odor. I have been told that this is due to the fact that some water remains in the machine after a wash is completed and if the door to the machine is left closed a mold develops. This plus the fact that the door seal on these machines is waterproof means that no air circulates in the machine when it is sitting idle. I have been told that it is best to leave the door open when the machine is not in use. This issue may be more pronounced in an apartment complex like the one I live in because so many different people are using the machines and using different laundry soaps and fabric softeners.
 
Switched to cold only several years ago and have been very happy with the switch.

Also what Dawg said about the fabric softner is true. In addition using the sheets will also build up on the lint screen and that inhibits air flow in the dryer .. be sure to thoroughly wash those lint screens frequently.

Unable to comment on the front loader since I've never had one.
 
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