I still get people asking if I know of any washing machines with a hot water valve. This article gives a few suggestions – but you should read on first to fully understand the issue. It is not as simple as you might think. It could be a complete waste of your time looking for one.
Most washing machines now only have a cold water valve but many people instinctively don’t like this. We all know washing machines wash with hot water, so it seems crazy not to use the hot water we already have in our homes. Heating it all up from cold seems wasteful and unnecessary.
This apparent madness is even more annoying for people who have an environmentally friendly and economic source of hot water such as solar powered.
However, there is a good argument that because modern washing machines use so little water on wash – there is no need for a hot valve. It’s in fact more economical to use cold fill only on 40 ° washes for most (but not all) people as explained here – is a hot & cold fill washing machine more economical?.
What is the science behind cold fill only washing machines?
All this is explained fully in my article Should I buy a cold fill washing machine?
So are there any washing machines with a hot valve?
At the time of writing there are some LG & Statesman models with a hot valve. However, they don’t take in hot water at all unless you use a very hot wash cycle. There is alternatively a British made washing machine with a hot water valve. Ebac’s hot & cold fill washing machine is advertised as using, “Intelligent hot fill technology”.
Some Hotpoint washing machines appear to be hot and cold fill, but they are designed for cold fill because there’s only a cold fill hose supplied and a y-piece adaptor supplies both valves.
I suspect this is a temporary measure, and that subsequent models will just have the cold valve.
So hot and cold fill washing machines are currently very rare. But even if you find one, you need to know that the few I’ve seen rarely even use the hot water valve.
If most of your wash cycles are done at 40 degrees or less it will most likely never use the hot valve at all.
Related:
Several people have asked me if you can connect an environmentally friendly and economic hot supply to the cold valve to utilise it. The short answer is no, for more details read Don’t connect the hot water supply to the cold valve on cold fill washing machine
New comments on this topic have been closed. There were over 600 comments now trimmed down (below) to 233. There are very interesting discussions there.
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Very helpful article. Have just purchased a Bosch washing maching and lamenting the change ie cold fill only, much longer wash time and frankly no better/not as good result as my old zanussi. However am now clearer on the benefits of a cold fill only and heartened to know that not much hot water was used direct from hot fill anyway
Reading the article on whether there is any benefit to getting a washing machine with both hot and cold valves I conclude that there isn’t currently much benefit , but that is largely because the models with both hot and cold valves have not been properrly designed to take full advantage of the hot supply. The article explains that both valves come on and because of the greater pressure in the cold line the machine fills up with mostly cold water. This is nothing more than sloppy design. with the benefit of modern microprocessor controls it should be easy to design a machine which runs to hot for a short while (to get hot water to come through) and then measures the temperature of the hot supply, before putting in the right mix of hot and cold to get the desired wash temperature. If the manufacturers aren’t capable of designing a machine which can do that, it is a pathetic state of affairs. In these days of environmental awareness failure to do such a simple thing to save energy in millions of homes should be unthinkable. I suggest there should be a top efficiency rating which can only be awarded to machines which can do this.
You make an interesting point Richard although I doubt it’s not done like that because they can’t, it’s more likely that it’s been looked into and decided it isn’t viable because of potential problems.
One problem is that modern washing machines only use about a bowlful of water on wash. By the time many gravity-fed hot water systems actually send hot water through to the washing machine the washer would have taken in 2 or 3 times more water than it needed. For example in my own kitchen, if I turn on the hot water tap it takes over a minute for proper hot water to start running out due to the long run and low pressure.
A washing machine would have to fill with hot water and keep it running until it detects hot water, it would then need to pump out all the water drawn in so far which would be wasteful. Then it would have to use sophisticated electronics and sensors to allow in a perfect combination of hot and cold. However, washing machines don’t normally want to start at the right temperature, washing with biological detergents for example is better when the temperature starts cold and gradually heats up. Some programs for example don’t heat the water up at first, or heat it up only a little before washing for a set time in just warm water to allow the detergent to work. Finally, biological enzymes are killed off when the water reaches over 40 degrees so starting at 60 degrees by letting in the correct mix of hot and cold water would affect the efficiency of washing using biological detergents.
Really good advice from someone who wants it made simple!
We are a family who can’t use biological poweder for allergy reasons. Therefore the use of a cold fill only machine will be less of a benefit. However, as is pointed out, there arn’t many hot/cold fill about. also our washing machine is position a good distance away from the hot water tank, so I suspect that hot water rarely makes it to the machine during a fill.
Why has nobody mentioned the fact that if you “draw off” hot water using a tap beside the washing machine you can get “instant” hot water to your hot-fill. I have been doing this for years – now that all my hot water is heated by a crabon-neutral energy source (either wood or solar) I feel it is even more energy efficient.
As for water consumption, my house has a secondary return pipe on the hot water circuit with a temperature sensor fitted to the pump so that it only switches on when you turn a hot water tap on – you than turn the tap off, wait 5-10 minutes while the water circulates, then turn it on again, by which time the hot water only has ashort distance to travel and you don’t waster much down the drain.
However, I have been interested to read about the pros of cold fill only, especially the arguments about such a small volume of water being used anyway and the possibly improved wash performance? Also, I was dismayed to read that washing machines with hot and cold fill don’t use the hot wate very efficiently.
So would I be better off going for a hot and cold machine while they’re still available or going for a high-efficiency cold fill only machine? I am still minded to get an LG with hot and cold fill… comments please?
Thanks for your comments Andrew. Drawing off hot water from a nearby tap would introduce hot water into the washing machine quicker. There’s the potential that many people would waste this water by just letting it run down the sink, and I would think only a small minority of people are likely to be happy to do that too. You also need a hot tap close by. My washing machine for example is in the garage and there’s no way any hot water is going to get into it.
There are many examples like yourself where you are keen to use hot water and have an environmentally friendly hot water supply that you want to utilise – which is why I wrote the article. The problem is that manufacturers design for the masses and the majority of people in the UK aren’t affected by a lack of hot water valve.
Buying a hot and cold fill washing machine specifically because you either use a lot of hot washes or you have a free or cheap supply of hot water is definitely an option albeit a restricted one. To my knowledge, LG are the most viable hot and cold fill washing machine to go for.
I’m instinctively cautious about choosing a product based on one criteria that only a minority of manufacturers make because it means that you could be compromising elsewhere. These other compromises could end up wiping out the advantages you were seeking. An example of this would be buying a budget washing machine, or one with a poor reliability reputation just because it’s one of the only washing machines with a hot valve – but the washing machine is more expensive to run, or uses much more water, or breaks down too often, doesn’t last very long etc. – all of which end up costing more than if you’d just bought a cold fill washing machine that’s cheap to run and reliable. My point is that if you think it’s a good idea, consider going for one but make sure it doesn’t let you down elsewhere. LG are reasonably reliable with average reliability according to Which?
( Research washing machine reliability and reviews – Which? Online 1 month free trial – what’s the catch? )
Thanks for the advice on this. Whilst my current machine does use the hot water valve (and because all of the washing is undertaken in quick succession, the hot pipe does actually get hot and used) your advice on the demise of the hot water valve is far better understood than the
“Why have all the machines only a cold water inlet?” “Dunno”
“Do you have any machines with a hot water inlet?” “Dunno”
“Can you still get machines with a hot inlet?” “Dunno”
conversation I had with the salesperson at my local electrical store earlier this evening!
Rob
I absolutely hate my cold fill Hotpoint which has been nothing but trouble, even though I’ve alsways used Hotpoint in the past, this will be the last, unless they greatly improve. It won’t rinse soapowder away other than with water boiled from the kettle, so I’ve had to reluctantly switch to liquid or tablets and it has a horrible black sludge inside the top of the soap dispenser drawer housing and on the inside of the rubber seal around the drum. The engineer, on one of his countless visits tells me that this is a problem which is common with Hotpoint machines since they changed to cold fill. The washing never smells clean and certainly never seems as clean. I ahave had it 2 years and although it still works I am currently looking for a new HOT FILL model.
Hello Maxine: The problems you describe shouldn’t be caused by a lack of a hot water valve. I’m not trying to defend Hotpoint, personally I wouldn’t buy one, but the problems you describe sound like they could occur even with a different washing machine. Not having a hot valve shouldn’t make any difference. In fact you should be better off because cold water pressure is almost always a lot greater than hot water pressure – therefore a cold fill washing machine should flush the detergent into the drum better than one that uses hot water.
Almost all washing machines are cold fill only now including ones costing over a thousand pounds by people who make the best washing machines available. Your problem is more likely to be caused by low water pressure as it clearly isn’t strong enough to wash the detergent down properly. Low water pressure can also cause the water valve to not shut off 100% and a very small amount of water can seep through constantly if the tap is left on all the time. This can cause the black sludgy mess you describe.
Make sure that the tap is turned on fully for the washing machine and make sure the fill hose hasn’t been kinked somehow. You could also try removing the soap dispenser and observing where the water comes in over a few minutes. If there is a small drop of water that occasionally drips it could be that the water valve isn’t shutting off properly. If so it may need replacing or at least you should turn the tap off when you’ve finished washing (if it is accessible of course)
Finally you may find the following article of use where I describe causes of black slime, grease and mould on washing machines which is caused by using low temperature washes all the time and using detergent that doesn’t contain any bleaching agents – Washing machine smells – causes of grease, slime and black mould inside washing machines
Interesting article on just cold fill inlet on modern machines. I was thinking that hot fill could still be useful if somehow the incoming water temperature could be sensed with the appropriate program.
Also the temperature of the initial incoming water flow via the hot intake, is a lot warmer than the outside temperature of incoming cold flow, especially in the winter when it could be as low as two degrees if the intake is near the stop cock.
I would think that the two above combinations would save even more energy more energy, of course there is the extra cost of manufacture involved.