Question about doing laundry

OK, this may sound like a foolish question, but it won't be the first time I've asked one on here. :lol3:

What temperature water do you use to wash your laundry? I was brought up thinking hot or warm was best and I normally use warm, but I've been reading lately that most people are using cold. I've always thought that cold water won't clean things as well. I have a regular washer, not one of the newer HE washers. I don't know if that makes a difference. :dk:

40degreesC I wash mine on because thats the lowest it goes, my mam washes on 30degreesC she refuses to go any lower

I use cold/cool to save on costs.
Always have, and my clothes are clean.
My washer is about 20 years old (1994).

30 Degrees.

The soap powders now are made so you can use cold water, but l still like some heat in mine, but even 30 degrees cleans mine perfectly

l use cold wash, but only with liquid detergent. Hot wash for whites that can't be boiled.

l use Tide (3 different scents, l love Tide smell) for my everyday clothes, and use Woolite for delicates/woollens.

I have our machine (it's as old as the hills) on Warm Wash / Cold Rinse for everything. It can do a Hot Wash, Warm Wash, or Cold Wash. All rinses are Cold. I use Tide and Wisk for the most part. I prefer Wisk over Tide.

And a Bounce bar in the dryer....it lasts for about 3 months or so.

Whatever my mom has set.. or whatever the lady at the laundromat uses.. lol

I don't have my own washer/dryer and I refuse to use the apartment's washer/dryer.. I've had many bad experiences with them. I now take it to my mom's when I visit (I do my own clothes there.. leave the settings whatever it's at).. or I drop it off at the laundromat and have them do my clothes for me (I love the way they fold my undies. lol)

Actually I think that's a good question! If there's a protein-based stain, I pretreat and wash in cold. Hot water will alter the shape of the protein and cause it to set. Most stuff I use cold water, but I use hot on blankets, towels, and bed linens. I probably don't need to use hot at all, truthfully. I use Cheer on my darks; Gain on my whites, blankets, and linens; and Sun on my towels. Towels are always double rinsed and no softener on them.

I do ALOT of wash and all goes cold except if there is a accident on something and the top sheet on the bed go warm/hot(hot to hot warm to cold:S) 

I wash all my clothes o at 30 degree 31 minute wash unless they've got some fancy instructions on them (but even then I probably just treat them like normal LoL), but towels and bedding I do at 40 degrees as read somewhere the lower washes don't kill all the bacteria etc.  About twice a year I'll do the towels and bedding at 60 for a really good clean if I think they need it but that's not often - just if I've had folk staying and they've left things lying about so they get that nasty 'damp' smell or something.  I use a powder that's suitable for washing from 30 degrees and not had a problem with it not dissolving properly or anything and laundry always looks clean despite me avoiding stuff that's got optical brighteners in if I can help it.

I always use cold water.  I never use a powder detergent, only liquid.

Our washer has three water temperature settings: icy, barely warm, and boiling. 

I use the cold setting to wash clothes with the exception of workout clothes which get washed in warm with everything else. If I want to wash something on hot (throw rugs, rags, etc.) I have to stand there and let some hot water go in, then let it finish filling with warm, otherwise seriously you could boil pasta in that thing.

My DH changes the settings to cold but when I do the laundry I forget all about the settings and so it automatically goes to hot. We just got a new washer so I am getting used to it.

I guess I'm old fashioned. I think warm cleans better too. I wash everything in warm and things that won't shrink like towels and sheets in hot water.

I always use warm, but only because with my washer, the hot and cold water just trickle out. With warm, both the hot and cold are trickling at the same time so it fills faster, and I don't have all day! :lol3: Otherwise I would probably use cold for most things. All rinses are cold water only on my washer. I really need a new washer. . .:tongue2:

Light loads (sheets, towels, white or beige underwear) get washed at 60°C (140°F), everything else at 30°C (86°F). I use liquid detergent and a short cycle, which means 90 - 100 minutes with my machine.

All my clothes are on warm and I have to use the laundry at when my daughter can't  pick them up . She helps do my laundry and I watch her dogs & cats.

I've noticed the European members are talking about specific temps---do European washing machines have temperature controls? American washers only have "cold", "warm", and "hot", no mention of the actual temperature. I have no idea how warm "warm" is! :lol3:

Draco said:

 
 or I drop it off at the laundromat and have them do my clothes for me (I love the way they fold my undies. lol)

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Willowy said:

I've noticed the European members are talking about specific temps---do European washing machines have temperature controls? American washers only have "cold", "warm", and "hot", no mention of the actual temperature. I have no idea how warm "warm" is!

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I wouldn't know how warm warm was either!  Yip, machines in UK now mostly tell you the temperature in degrees C for each kind of wash on the machine - pretty much need a degree to do your own laundry!     Between the temperatures, different lengths of wash, choices of spin speed, 'woolens', 'delicates', etc etc etc.  I just go for the short, simple ones and stick to it! Once I think I'd knocked the dial by mistake and didn't notice, ended up washing a pile of stuff on 90 degrees. Only noticed after about an hour and there was an unusual smell when I went in the kitchen. Too late - it came out all discoloured and elastic bits shriveled up - not good.