A housewifery question re tea towels

And ....J52 I find biological detergents are the best thing to clean oven racks when soaked in a strong solution, I just thought I would add that

To be precise, I wash the tea towels with the towels in the machine on economy wash. Previous post probably lacked precision because I was concentrating on the chocolate cake that I was eating. x

You've got a special towel wash on your machine j52?

Oh, I thought it had to be two and a half minutes to sterilize a dishcloth!
I usually put mine in bleach.
I generally put everything in together at 40 degrees but every now and again think that I should be more careful and put them and towels at 60 degrees.

A couple of months ago I decided to boil my tea towels, old fashioned style, on the hob. It didn't do much for the tea towels, but the over boiled biological detergent brought the stainless steel hob up a treat. Now clean the hob with boiling biological detergent. Tea towels go into towel wash in machine. X

Dishcloths and other cloths can be sterilized by wetting them and putting in the microwave for 30 seconds. I do my green scourer/sponge too. I assume the same would be possible with tea towels, but I use hand towels (better absorption) and wash them with everything else at 30 degrees.

When I had the guest house I used to buy towels from a company called Eden Valley. They are the only towels that have never gone cracker shaped on a hot wash. The ones I have now are from Ethical Superstore, made from bamboo, and are nearly as good.

Pittcity at the hotel we stayed in on holiday a few weeks back, the towels and the bed linen smelt of vinegar!

I must be very lucky. I only ever wash at 30 and have never had mould I'm glad to say.My machine is 5 years old and was the cheapest on the market.It is a cold fill. Something to be said for simplicity. I wash most days too as I have so much.

Empty wash feetle? Why not bung some clothes in

My machine is 10 years old and I've never done any empty wash stuff.

Mine go in with towels and cloths. I never use fabric conditioner on these but a splash of white vinegar. They are then soft and absorbent... and don't reminds you of chips!

Yes, that's it Elegran. It looks odd.

Snap.

I think she said cracker-shaped towels, not teatowels. Is it pulled in at the non-terry-towelling strip that they put near the ends, J08 If you can be bothered to stretch those strips straight while the towels are still damp, they will dry without the gathers. If not, does it matter?

jend No, it's my towels that went cracker shaped. When I washed them at 60. They are John Lewis ones too! I think the decorative insert a few inches from either end shrunk.

I do a monthly 90° empty wash with the stuff the engineers use... seems to do the trick. I buy a year's supply of the stuff (12 sachets) which costs around £1 a month.

I DID NOT TYPE THAT WORD ON THE END THERE!!!

This bloomin' Kindle is determined to get me into trouble!

True, Pollaidh. When I had a guest house and a cafe, hygiene rules said to wash towels and teatowels at as hot a temperature as your machine would allow. A temperature of over 55 gets rid of dust mites so I wash bedding at 60.
I wash towels and teatowels at 90 and that's usually once a week to keep the washing machine mould-free. j08 why do want your teatowels to be a decent shape. Just do not use the good ones that people buy you to look at. Put them on the wall.
Staph A thrives at 30 degrees.

MInd you I do change them every couple of days and use a dishwasher for the bulk of the stuff.

Maybe I should n' t have put that particular post up. He's not really dirty. Poo

Picturing a little old man resembling Old man Steptoe jingle which I am sure is not what your DH looks like at all.

Yes Pollhaid there is a lot to be said for that.

I'm not sure why one would need to really hot wash tea towels. One uses them to dry up clean washing up...not mop the floor. Mine go in with the whites/pale wash at 40.

Nina there are garments of DH' s that I wash separately. But we won't go into that.

#dirtylittleman

I wash mine with other cottons at 60 degrees, as I reckon they need something of a hot wash to rid the bacteria.
Just on a related note, my brand new washing machine began to grow mould on the door seal. Very upsetting, until I read somewhere that this is a result of using cool washes. So every 6 weeks or so I do a 95 degree wash with dishcloths, bathroom cloths etc all pushed in. No problems with mould now!