# Washing Machines: Hot, Warm or Cold Water: Does It Make a Difference? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 22, 2019, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washing-machines-hot-warm-or-cold-water-does-it-make-a-difference/832898 "2019-04-22T18:01:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2019, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washing-machines-hot-warm-or-cold-water-does-it-make-a-difference/832898/23 "2019-04-25T09:48:19Z")
I had a washing machine that the best it could do was warm, but possibly it was a terrible washing machine in other ways, too. Things did not get really clean. Now I have a much better machine, and I really think washing kitchen towels in hot water has kept them cleaner. I wash everything as hot as the fabric will take it, and now I have a machine that will actually do hot. Things are much cleaner! But it’s probably the machine more than the water temp. By the way, for white socks I have heard that boiling them with sliced lemons is good for renewing the white. Me, I would just buy new socks and throw the old gray ones away. I would think boiling them would ruin the elastic faster than putting them in the dryer. My machine even has a “hand wash” cycle, which is a little bit of an oxymoron. Virtually everything I wash in the hand wash cycle is washed cold. But that’s not the stuff that gets really dirty in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Mirtha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@Mirtha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mirtha)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washing-machines-hot-warm-or-cold-water-does-it-make-a-difference/832898/24 "2019-05-08T18:35:48Z")
Yes, it makes a difference - warm is best for home-made powder laundry soap. For store-bought liquid or powder detergents, probably doesn’t matter as much. Always best to pre-treat potential stains. And for the rinse, use vinegar to remove residue. (Your clothes won’t smell like vinegar.) ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washing-machines-hot-warm-or-cold-water-does-it-make-a-difference/832898/25 "2019-05-08T20:08:09Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > … > I don’t bother separating by color anymore except on the first wash or two for something dark. I don’t wear white or much red, but my undershirts remain white. I instead separate by garment type. This. I do my underwear and sheets in hot water, and throw in enough other laundry that won’t be harmed by hot water to make it a decent sized load. (Not an issue when I wash the sheets, but i don’t do those every week.) Everything else gets warm. My water is hard enough that if I wash in cold there will be some detergent residue, and I’ll itch. Ymmv. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washing-machines-hot-warm-or-cold-water-does-it-make-a-difference/832898/26 "2019-05-08T20:10:40Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > For cold wash, liquid detergents are mandantory. The pods won’t open properly and the powder doesn’t dissolve. My wife always used “tap cold” and pods, and nary a problem. But yes, detergents do dissolve better in hotter water. I only separate if there is something red or similar mixed in with whites. Blacks go fine with whites. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washing-machines-hot-warm-or-cold-water-does-it-make-a-difference/832898/27 "2019-05-08T20:25:55Z")
New reds need to be washed separately. I haven’t had trouble with any other colored clothing (or with any older clothing) in decades. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2019, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washing-machines-hot-warm-or-cold-water-does-it-make-a-difference/832898/28 "2019-05-10T00:41:38Z")
Do they? I haven’t had any problem with red in ages except once, but that was color transfer to a beige wall not laundry. For a while, my company was wearing red shirts (still use them for temps) as part of the uniform. They specifically ordered color-stable shirts that were gauranteed to not transfer through contact (rubbing) and I never once had a problem with the red running in the wash from those shirts either. I wonder if it was a combination of dye and synthetic material in the blend. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2019, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washing-machines-hot-warm-or-cold-water-does-it-make-a-difference/832898/29 "2019-05-10T01:06:23Z")
> [@DorkVader](#): > > Do they? I haven’t had any problem with red in ages except once, but that was color transfer to a beige wall not laundry. For a while, my company was wearing red shirts (still use them for temps) as part of the uniform. They specifically ordered color-stable shirts that were gauranteed to not transfer through contact (rubbing) and I never once had a problem with the red running in the wash from those shirts either. I wonder if it was a combination of dye and synthetic material in the blend. Well, like you said “specifically ordered color-stable shirts”, not all reds are that way. I have ended up with too many pink undershirts that way. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2019, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washing-machines-hot-warm-or-cold-water-does-it-make-a-difference/832898/30 "2019-05-10T01:16:35Z")
I use hot/cold for my white undershirts and socks, and warm/cold for everything else. Liquid detergent, bleach pods for the whites, Clorox 2 for the rest, and Downey for both. Seems to work fine for me. Occasionally I’ll leave the bleach out for my whites and run some liquid bluing instead. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washing-machines-hot-warm-or-cold-water-does-it-make-a-difference/832898.md?page=1)