Doing Laundry with cold water.

I do all my washing with ‘30 degrees ‘ liquid detergent from Aldi and find it’s great as all comes out clean & fresh , except for bedding and towels which I wash on 40 degrees , but sometimes do them on a 30 degree wash if I’m in a hurry .

For the past year I have been using non-bio laundry strips on 60 for towels and bedding, and everything else on 30, all on a fast wash setting.
I stayed with someone once who washed everything on a fast cold wash, without detergent, and everything smelled dreadful, and still looked dirty.

I did for a while but the machine seemed to smell so back at 40 for most things.

I’ve gone from 40 to 30 degree washes for my clothes but still use 60 on a quick wash for white cotton bedding and towels - it might be all in my mind but they didn’t seem so ‘fresh’ as when I tried 30 degrees. I suppose it’s an improvement as years ago they would have had a good old boil wash and a dose of dolly blue in the twin tub

I wash everything cool, but never towels, sheets, white cotton pants, you need to kill the bacteria and you can’t on cool.

You need to use 40 to get rid of bacteria from skin, urine, poo, discharges, infection. Part of infection control training.

i live on my own and spend most of my time in pyjamas, i do my laundry on setting cold with just a little detergent and it washes fine, my only warm water washing i do is white bras and i use warm water and white vinegar.

I can't see the point of washing at a lower temperature, and then adding in extra (plastic packed) things to the wash.
How can it be more envoironmentally sound friendly?

It's just consumerism, to my mind.

My son is a bike mechanic so gets quite grubby I do my washing on a 20 wash with Dettol .aundry disinfectant a Surf pod and softener.If anything looks particularly grubby I use Vanish as well.I never seem to have any problems.

Ex-Hotpoint and always recommended to use hottest wash occasionally with white vinegar instead of detergent to clean machine if normally using cool washes. This degunks the machine.

I find 30 ok for lightly used jeans etc .max50 for towels to ensure bacteria throttled.no more than 40 for any polyesters as higher temps alters the structure and causes pilling, although I don't have any poly nowadays , that was a tip!
30for wools/mix and use Woolite never ever bio Detergent As it destroys the fibre. Amazingly I have machine washable Cashmere! I know! Who would ever have thought it possible!!? But it works! Generally everything is 40deg at number 4 on an eco wash that saves time

I generally wash at 30 degrees and use non-bio liquid which is refillable. I strongly believe that fabric conditioner is bad environmentally so never use it. There are many sites that explain this - this is but one
ethicalunicorn.com/2018/11/06/you-dont-need-fabric-softener-heres-why-its-useless-bad-for-the-planet/

Both being retired and no really dirty clothes …. I wash at 30* and use a laundry egg. Very efficient. Died clothes get washing powder and a higher temp.

MeowWow
I too turn clothing inside out and I also put mine in mesh bags which protects them well.
If I wash cardigans or very delicate items then I double bag them.
Very few, if any, need ironing as they don't get screwed up like they do if put in loose.
I live in a very hard water area but have a water softener which means less detergent being required. It also means that I don't need to spend much on cleaning products for the bathroom, shower room and kitchen. My skin and hair are so much better with the softened water. A real bonus all round.

Well said Pepper59.

In my experience it depends on what you are washing and how dirty it is.

I was taught as a girl always to wash curtains and anything else that was dusty rather than dirty in cold water, rather than hot.

Soiled clothes, tea towels, bed linen etc. may and probably will harbour germs, both bacteria an vira as well as not becoming clean if only washed in cold water, so in the interests of hygeine either continue to wash them in hot water or scald them after washing.

Most things will come clean in cold water if you use liquid washing soap - but washing powder won't dissolve properly in cold water.

On board our motor boat I washed clothes by putting them in a square plastic box in cold water and liquid soap then puting the lid on the box. The motion of the boat while we were sailing shoogled the clothes back and forward in much the same manner as a washing-machine of the older variety did and the result was clean clothes, that had to be rinsed and wrung.

I honestly cannot see that you save water this way, but you are saving electricity for heating the water.

My washing machine washes on most programmes at 40° . I wouldn't think of doing anything else. I do use a washing product that is recommended for washing at this temperature.

I wash clothes at 30 degrees on a quick 14 mins cycle unless really dirty, like gardening clothes, etc. I've 2 clothes horses, although do love line dried clothes in the better weather.

Kalu

I have only ever used vinegar Baggs as I’m not very keen on fabric softeners. Absolutely no after smell. ?

Thank you, kalu. I will become a vinegar convert in that case ?

If you use fabric conditioner on towels it makes them less absorbant.

I watched Plebs, where they're in early BC Rome, and the laundry lady asks for the urine from their toilets in pub next door for the washing, she says its for the ammonia in it.??

I usually wash at 30 degrees, and use half the amount of detergent. Neither of us lime the smell of fabric conditioner, but I find vinegar does not leave the clothes as soft as I would like.
Now and then I do a hot wash at 60- towels, bedding. The plumber says it helps to keep the machine clean too.

MeowWow yes I turn everything inside out including underwear. It really does stop clothes fading. Especially coloured t-shirts.
Granmarderby10, I stopped buying the blue Comfort fabric conditioner for that same reason. It made my washing machine smell. My machine's not that old.
I buy the white pure one now and no problems since.
I wash everything on a 40 degree wash. I couldn't bring myself to wash on a cold wash. I wouldn't feel the washing got clean and nothing less than an hour and half cycle.

I wash most items at 30° and if lightly soiled use a quick wash for 19 minutes. Any messy stains are treated with BioTex before shoving in the washing machine.

Its recommended bedding is done at 60 as well- but with modern fabrics its not always possible, so a 50 or 40 with detergent & laundry cleanser/zoflora (capful) does the trick if not cottons.