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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Re post 515 (Vera): I could not agree more! (and I think most readers on here will say the same). It is interesting that if you speak to an independent retailer or service agent they usually agree too, whilst dealers with an “authorisation” to sell the big brands don’t. I’m not so sure about keeping the price down though: most washers now cost far more than they have ever done, in proportional terms compared to household income, with only the very cheapest being, broadly speaking, “cheaper in real terms”. I think it’s more likely that they are in cahoots with the energy companies to keep consumption UP so that the energy companies make bigger and better profits.
I find it hard to believe that here in the 21st century, washing machine manufacturers cannot make washing machines that can mix incoming cold and hot water using 2 separate inlet valves. With all this modern technology around us, it can’t be that difficult to monitor the temperate of the incoming hot water and if it’s too hot i.e. hotter than the temperate selected by the user for the programme, mix the hot with cold and make this work regardless of low hot water pressure.
They could keep everyone happy by including a hot water valve – but making it OPTIONAL i.e. the user can connect it to the hot water supply if they want, but if the hot water valve is NOT connected to a hot water supply, then just fill from the cold. As long as cold water can’t leak out of an unconnected hot water valve, then everyone would be happy, surely?
It could be argued that adding a hot water valve would make washing machines more expensive, but how come computers get better, more powerful and incorporate more new features and technology year after year, yet stay around the same price?? Surely the washing machine manufacturers could give the public what they want?
It could also be argued that if the hot water is too hot, it’s no use. But the point of adding hot water is to avoid starting off with water that is very cold in the first place. In the middle of winter, this could help keep running costs down by not heating very cold water. As for biological detergents, I have read that the “biological” part stops working when the water becomes too hot. The point I’m making now is not to make the water too hot before actually washing the clothes, but to start off with a water temperate of, say, 25C instead of something much lower e.g. 5C. Yes the hot water cools down in the pipes, so that brings back my point about monitoring the incoming hot water temperature and it won’t be anywhere near as cold as incoming mains water supply during the winter months.
Being an old fashioned silver surfer, in the market for a new washing machine with a hot and cold fill as I do a regular 95o wash i.e,once a week for towels flannels etc. Not having a dishwasher I use tea towels and feel these need a hot hot wash too, and in an old fashioned way I get some enjoyment from seeing them on the washing line, white, clean and free from stains unlike some of those seen at my friends and neighbours.
I have read your blog, missing out quite a few entries – the first I have taken part in! I do feel after 2 goes and many hours spent gleaning the information I need to buy another machine is that perhaps there are better things to do in the days remaining to me! So my question is Washerhelp what machine do you use, or what machine would you recommend.
We have an economical souce of water in winter,having a good old fashioned solid fuel heating system which produces hot hot water whilst heating the house.
Something that hasn’t been mentioned is that we are not connected to the mains drainage and cannot be, as we are allegedly too far from the nearest connection – so use a Klargester sewage system and thus cannot use a bio-detergent, as they kill the working bugs in the sewage system, (hard to believe but we only live 16 miles from the centre of London). This is quite common on the Continent and in the countryside we are not alone, yet this appears to have been ignored by washing machine manufacturers. Perhaps you could bring it to their attention!
I’ve not read every single one of the 520 comments above, but if you want to mix some hot water into the washing machine to save power, simply pour a few jugfuls of hot water into the soap drawer so the volume of water just comes over the bottom of the door seal.
If you use biological detergent, I would suggest a mixture of hot and cold water being poured in, so the water in the washing machine is lukewarm instead of stone cold. However, for really dirty clothes, you can usually extend the wash time by adding some extra cold water – but this uses more electricity and that’s why we are debating the use of a hot water valve!
For a 40C wash, starting off with warmer water at, say, 28C instead of a low temperature e.g. 10C will keep running costs down and you still get the benefits of the biological detergent’s enzymes. These enzymes only get decayed if the water is too warm i.e. 53C or above, as mentioned by Oliver in an earlier comment.
It’s probably gentler for the clothes if there’s an extra volume of water in the main wash so they don’t become coated in highly concentrated detergent and rub against other dry clothes until the water has been absorbed and the washing machine’s “fuzzy logic” decides to add more water. A volume of water that just comes over the bottom of the door seal should be enough; I think any more than that would be superfluous. It’s up to you if you want to pour extra hot water into the soap drawer after the washing machine has filled up for the wash.
WMUser’s suggestion about adding hot water via the detergent drawer is obviouly sound – but why should we buy expensive, complex and supposedly state of the art machines that are supposed to work automatically – and then use a manual intervention to make them work properly?
It would be very easy to design and machine that took a mixture of hot and cold water – and such machines exist. But nobody sells them in the UK for no good reason that anyone here has been able to determine.
Hello Richard: I identified a “good” reason ages back. There’s not enough commercial demand. The vast majority of people don’t complain about the lack of a hot valve and washing machines like most other products are designed for the masses.
Are you suggesting that Canadians, Americas, Germans, Italians Australians and the residents of those other countries where we know dual -fill machines are sold, have them simply because they complain more tha we do?
The British might not be a complaining race by nature – but I can’t believe that all the countries cited above generate so many more complaints. After all, Canada (to cite just one country) has a far smaller population tha do we.
Hello Richard: I was told that they have different hot water supplies to us, presumably most use combination boilers. I was told the UK is pretty unique in having the majority of households using gravity fed hot water from hot water tanks upstairs, which means hot water takes a long time to reach the washing machine.
Hello Dave: I put the word “good” in speech marks to denote it wasn’t my opinion, but what the manufacturers say.
The “I was told” may have come across as though I was fobbed off by some minion but I asked a very high up source at Miele, the top man in charge of washing machines in the UK.
Your second point doesn’t make any sense to me. If they are removing the hot valve to make increased profit at our expense how come they only do it to us and not all the other places you quote? It seems a bit of a stretch and venturing into conspiracy territory to say they are only screwing us.
Also, the reasons I quoted from the manufacturers were from at least 10 years ago when they made the decision to go cold fill. As we’ve all discussed many times things have changed a lot since then, especially over the last few years so they may need a rethink but it doesn’t mean they weren’t valid reasons when they originally made them. The reasons I stated were the reasons why they changed to cold fill not necessarily why we still have them.
Also, the fact remains that the vast majority of people don’t complain about the lack of a hot valve so no matter how important it is to a few, manufacturers are not going to change anything unless it suits them or they think most of their customers would either benefit or are wanting the change.
There may be 530+ comments on this topic giving an impression it’s a hot one (excuse the pun) but if you count the contributors I bet there’s only half a dozen or so hard core people demanding a hot valve.
In response to comment #524
I totally agree. In the 21st century with technologically advanced washing machines, you need to stand there and pour in hot water for the main wash to raise the water temperature, also in the rinses I have to stand around pouring in hot water to get the clothes rinsed properly. It makes me *so* angry every time I use the washing machine that I have to waste my time doing this when the washing machine is supposed to be “automatic”!!
In some cases, pouring in extra hot water may reduce the main wash time considerably, but people on this site are complaining that wash times are too long, so maybe it’s not so bad if some washing machines reduce the main wash time? Surely it’s better to have clothes last longer if they are washed and rinsed in more water for less time, than the current situation of washing them in barely any water for a long time and the clothes suffer more “wear and tear” (literally), so get thrown away sooner.
The lack of a hot water inlet valve on modern washing machines raises another big question: are old washing machines better than new ones? I think Washerhelp could set up a new blog devoted to new versus old washing machines and see how many comments get added – probably many!