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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Tim, i have been on your suggested website. I have left the subject to be put forward for debate? While there I also signed the NHS petition and posted it onto facebook.. Most people seem concerned with the temperature of machines, my big concern is insufficient water to wash and rinse clothes, is there supposed to be a visible water level because I don’t, have one. Thank you.
Hi Richard. The manufacturer’s say starting with cold water and slowly raising the temperature gives the best results for biological detergents.
Also wouldn’t there still be the same problems with a thermostatic mixing valve that you have with a hot and cold fill washing machine? In most people’s homes the hot water would take too long to run hot through the hose. By the time there was enough hot water running through for the thermostatic valve to start mixing ready to supply water at the required temperature the washing machine will have already taken enough water in for many if not the majority of people’s circumstances.
I suspect the only way a thermostatically controlled mixer could supply the main wash with a predefined temperature for most people would be if the hot hose was disconnected and a bowlful or two run off until it ran hot, then reconnect and the mixer valve would be ready to supply a required temperature.
Indeed Richard. Washing machines should be capable of running at optimum efficiency regardless of the way it’s used and what detergent is used. Customers should be able to tell the machine to run in hot and cold fill mode or cold fill mode depending on their circumstances. They should be able to tell it to do warm rinses or let it rinse in cold water and there should be a button that they can press to tell the machine what type of detergent they are using – biological or non biological.
For all the modern technology they use they are still pretty thick.
A lot about washing depends on your water. I live in a soft water area so I do not need so much detergent and the rinsing is likewise better.
My mother has a quite old machine, a sim line with a drum like a front loader but loaded through an opening in the drum. She always rinses items like sheets and towels with an additional final rinse
I am not keen on biological detergents and having solar hot water I am looking into a thermostatic valve so I can feed in hot water at teh corect temperature. If one times the use of the washer to when the run has already been used for washing hands or in the kitchen then many of the arguements go away. My washer is in a utility room near the kitchen and since there is a sink there I can run off some any cold water in the hot supply.
I am loath to waste water but Scottish water want me to pay them over 500 quid to have a meter and a meter will not save me any money because of the high standing charge – I know how much I use from living for 10 years in a metered area. SO silly, these things should have a modest fiscal incentive.
I Holland all domestic electricity is cheaper after 11pm so people just use a timer to start teh amchine. Here we only have the useless Economy 7 tariff which is only any good for an all electric house
@barbara flatts I’m glad to help others with ideas that I’ve thoroughly tried and tested. :)
Modern washing machines don’t do their job properly and need manual intervention to improve their lame performance, so AUTOMATIC goes straight out of the window!
Pouring jugfuls of warm water into the soap drawer will help and it only takes just a few minutes. You could add less water, start the machine again and if there’s enough water it won’t keep adding more cold water. I find it’s better to use extra warm water to cover the bottom door seal by 1 inch; this helps dilute the detergent more so it rinses off easier, it also keeps the door seal clean; I used to get white stuff on the door seal before adding the extra water and I would often notice a stray sock or something stuck on the door seal while the rest of the laundry was rotating in the drum.
I do NOT accept any of the arguments that cold fill only is better because… (list of reasons).
I DON’T want to pay extra for electricity when the washing machine has to heat stone cold water, despite having hot water available to mix. I DON’T want my clothes suffering more wear and tear in the washing machine while the water temperature is below 20C and the detergent is not even dissolved properly and not actually cleaning. I DON’T see why I should be heating cold water in 2 places at home (except using the kettle of course) and so on, and so on and so on!
Bring back the hot water valve!!
Hi Thanks for the advice, I do , once a month, clean the machine on a hot wash, free of clothes , with a washing machine cleaner from the supermarket . In between I run soda crystals through it and also use calogen as we have very hard water. I am wondering if the force of the hot water hose is causing dirt to go into the wash thus causing the smell to my washing. It is certainly high maintenance with out the benefits.
These problems did not exist in the old machines and the clothes were far cleaner, what idiot came up with this idea, the people that like them are even bigger idiots.
@WMUser, many thanks for the tip. New information for me there.
Regards, John
I live in a hard water area and have had a wonderful Hoover Ecologic 1300 washing machine for 20 years. The brushes have gone and this damaged the motor which I am now replacing with a reconditioned one. This maintainance is costing around £40. As it is a hot and cold fill machine, I consider this to be preferable than buying a new machine with a cold fill only; something that I am going to avoid doing for as long as possible. Even with my Hoover Ecologic machine I added a dose of soda crystals in every wash and I have never had a problem with the quality of wash or rinse. I collect the rinse water for my garden and use British made eco detergents. I know hot water enters the machine almost instantly because I checked when it was fitted by feeling the heat of the door when the water first entered the machine on a certain programme. This was to see if the water hoses were correctly fitted and that the machine was drawing water from the right source. I don’t want my machine to be responsible for the heating of the water. Simple as that!
I ‘m writing because I just want it to be known that I too am disgusted that the manufacturers are not giving us the choice we are demanding and still expect us to pay up for a sub standard machine that, regardless of reported capability, we will not be truly happy with. If I ever failed to get parts I would rather rig the drum to my exercise bike than buy a cold intake only machine!
Thanks for this site and the comment posting option. It’s good to have a place where views can be shared. I only wish it could be guaranteed the manufacturers are reading this!
Sara: The Hoover Ecologic was a good old-school good machine in the sense that it was very repairable. You could strip down the motor and replace the carbon brush ring or the armature or motor bearings as well as strip down the drum and backplate and replace the drum bearings.
The repairability of Hoover washing machines and availability of decent priced parts and good technical information was the secret to their dominance of the market in the 70s. I don’t think Hoover realise that. The most popular washing machine needs to be very repairable and people will buy them for ever and recommend them to their friends and family. Even if they aren’t that greatly made – as long as they are decently made and can be repaired people will buy them and stick with them.
Thanks Adrian. Anyone determined to buy a washing machine with a hot and cold water valve now have another machine to consider. However, as I originally advise in my article it’s not necessarily going to use any significant amounts of hot water unless you have very specific set up and is unlikely to use any hot water at all on the most commonly used 40 degree wash. Even on a 60 degree wash it’s only going to use hot water if you have a short hot water run from the source otherwise much of the water drawn in from the hot water pipes is likely to be cold or only warm.
The only true answer is to hope someone designs a washing machine that is truly intelligent, with a thermostatically controlled fill that and can properly adapt to all the different conditions a washing machine can find itself in as discussed several times in previous comments – and of course can get round the water cooling in pipes problem..