Washing at 30 degrees 5 things you need to know

Do you mostly wash at 30 degrees? Are you thinking of dropping from 40 degrees to 30 degrees in order to save money? Here are 5 things you need to know first. This page takes a holistic view, and looks at whether you really do save any money. And can your washing machine even wash properly at 30 degrees?

Here are my 5 important points related to low temperature washing –

• Your washing machine may not wash laundry properly at 30 degrees
• Low temperature washes have limitations you should understand
• You may not save as much money as you think
• Low temperature washes can ruin your washing machine
• Low temperature washes are counterproductive if you don’t wash full loads

Washing at low temperatures can make sense, and can help save energy. It’s never been more important to save energy. But if you don’t understand the following points, then switching to washing at 30 degrees, or even 20 degrees, could prove more expensive in the long run.

However, despite everything said in this article – always check the wash labels. If it says to wash at 30 degrees, then that’s what is necessary. Otherwise, you could ruin your clothes. But for cottons and other laundry items, read on.

1: Your washing machine might not wash properly on 30 degree wash cycle

Before trying 30 degree washes for normal washing, you need to check your washing machine. Most washing machines will have a 30 degree wash programme, but it’s not necessarily suitable for washing cottons, especially if not modern. Many wash cycles were designed before the 30 degree wash fad, and historically, only delicate laundry needed such a cool wash.

To wash “normal” laundry at 30 degrees, your washing machine needs a proper 30 degree wash programme. Not one that is designed for delicates. A delicates cycle is short, very gentle on wash action, and has a slow spin speed. It is unlikely to wash cottons properly. If you want to wash normal laundry at 30 degrees, you need to check that is capable of washing cottons at this low temperature. Or you require the ability to manually reduce the temperature from 40 to 30 on a normal cottons wash cycle.

Check the instruction book on your washing machine to see if a proper 30 degree wash programme is available. Check what types of laundry it is designed for, and what spin speed the final spin is before deciding it is suitable for general 30 degree washes.

2: Low temperature wash cycles have limitations

If you have laundry that is stained, you can’t just throw it into the laundry basket and wash it at 30 degrees on wash day. You need to wash it as soon as possible. If you let the stain dry out, it may not be removed with only a 30 degree wash. Then you’ll have to wash it again, wasting energy and detergent.

30 degrees is no good for heavy stains

If heavily stained, 30 degrees just won’t get a stain out. Especially laundry with dried-on, strongly-coloured food, thick grease, heavy mud or grass stains. You’ll need to wash at normal temperature, or try pre-soaking with borax or detergent first.

Bacteria & germs

If anyone in the house has been ill, you should also wash their laundry at the normal temperature, (or the maximum temperature allowed on the wash care label) to try to kill germs.

3: You might not save as much money as you think

Claims that washing at 30 degrees instead of 40 uses 41% less energy sound great. But this may be a lot less than you assume. You need to decide if these savings amount to enough to compensate for all the downsides.

Beware of statistics

Although using 41% less electricity by washing at 30° sounds impressive, as always with percentage figures, you need some perspective to be able to judge how useful they are. For example, 2p is 100% more than 1p. In such a case, a 100% increase only equates to 1p. Not worth getting excited about. High percentage figures quoted without context aren’t necessarily as significant as they can imply.

Advertisers routinely use percentages to give impressive sounding stats that don’t always stand up to scrutiny. For example, in the small print of an Ariel wash at 30 degrees promotion there is the following qualifier –

“This means the saving in electricity by washing at 30 degrees was on average 0.198 KWh.”

If electricity cost was 10 pence per KWh (10p for using 1000 watts usage in an hour) you will have saved roughly 2 pence.

“At 30°C, the average energy consumed per wash was 0.284 KWh, while at people’s normal wash temperatures, this was 0.482 KWh”

The average energy costs used in the test for normal washing is 0.482 KWh. That’s just under half a KWh (5 pence). So the saving is only 41% of this, which is 2 pence. Even at 15p the savings would still only about 3p)

Any saving in energy use is good though?

Fair enough, any saving is good, and small savings add up. Also, energy prices are much higher now. I’m just pointing out that the savings headline of 41% is slightly misleading. Dropping to 30 degree wash temperatures from 40 degrees is not going to save a fortune. My concerns are that even if these small savings add up to something you’d care about, they can easily be more than wiped out by the disadvantages listed in this article.

However, if enough people do it, then the accumulated savings nationwide are far more impressive. It would do another small bit for the environment. It would also help the government’s carbon reduction targets. This, in my opinion, is why low temperature washes are being pushed.

4: Washing mostly at 30 degrees can ruin your washing machine

Low temperature wash cycles can result in long term build up of slime, grease and bacteria. This is already a problem for people washing mostly at 40 degrees, and will be worse at 30 degrees.

This is especially relevant if you use mostly liquid detergent, detergent that is “friendly to coloureds”, or wash mostly at 40 degrees or less. You should do regular maintenance washes at high temperatures. Otherwise over time, your washing machine may accumulate bacteria, mould and greasy smelly gunge inside which will shorten its life. Full details here – causes of grease, slime and black mould inside washing machines.

Unfortunately, the last point is likely to use up much or all of the energy saved by washing at 30 degrees. This is why I’m not convinced it is such a great idea. If you have to use boil washes to prevent serious slime and grease build up, and/or the washer breaks down or doesn’t last as long because it gets bacteria, black mould and grease rotting – then low temperature washing is bad.

5: Low temperature washing is counterproductive unless you wash full loads

Washing a small load at 30 degrees is more wasteful than washing a full load at 40 degrees. If there are only a handful of items that can be effectively washed at 30 degrees, and you can’t wait for a full load, then you might as well just mix them in with a normal load at 40 degrees.

Don’t blindly switch to low temperature wash cycles because it’s the latest trend. Or because you’ve seen adverts saying you will save a lot of money. Make sure you fully understand all the points raised in this article, so you don’t inadvertently end up financially worse off.

Which is the best detergent for washing at 30 degrees?

Check out the latest Which? Best Buy detergent tests – (research all consumer related issues: trial offer available at Which? – What do I get when I take a Which? trial? )