I recently had an email from Carol who was wanting to find a washing machine with a 95 degree hot wash. Most hot washes are 90 degrees, which is presumably hot enough, but for some reason she wanted 95 degrees.
It turns out that some Miele, Samsung and LG washing machines apparently have a 95 degree hot wash. (This information was supplied to me after Carol put some work in on the telephone contacting retailers). Please add a comment if you know of any more, or if you know if there’s a genuine difference or benefit to washing at 95 degrees instead of 90 degrees.
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WMUser says
My Zanussi-Electrolux has a 95C wash, but no 50C wash!
To be honest, I don’t think the water temperatures are exact? I don’t know if it’s possible for the temperature of washing water to be measured accurately or with an accuracy of, say, + or – 2C of the chosen temperature? So a 90C wash could end up being 92C towards the end of the main wash?
I know my washing machine will fill up with some cold water during the last 10 minutes or so of a 95C wash, but not at the lower temperature washes.
Oliver Shaw says
Hi Andy,
There is no benefit.
Bacteria/pathogens/mould/mildew are all destroyed at 65oC with a holding time of 10 minutes and 3 minutes at 71oC, at 90oC you are talking seconds, so no benefit for either the machine or the laundry. These are all DSS guideline requirements.
HTH,
Oliver.
Oliver Shaw says
Hi WMUser,
The 50oC wash was abolished a few years back, saying now anything carrying that label will be included in the 40oC synthetic cycle. As far as I know the 50oC is not on any new article of clothing? If you have a Synthetic 60oC and your machine has variable temperature you can reduce it to 50oC if it is important to you.
No, water temperatures are not exact, however when a modern machine has heated to temperature it will not heat again, so in reality a 90oC wash will more than likeley be in the late 70’s when it drains out. It is only some older machines that will put the heater back on during the wash to bring it back up to temperature.
The reason your machine has a cold top-up at the end of any wash above 60oC is because it has a plastic tank and cannot take such a sudden shock of cold water from the first rinse hitting it immediately from being at near boiling point, also it could not spin very fast either as it could warp the plastic. Manufacturers say it is to protect the clothing from shock creasing, but the 95oC is a cotton cycle and cotton cannot shock crease, neither can wool funnily enough, only man made fibres are affected this way. My Bosch and my Mums Siltal both have stainless steel tanks and at the end of a boil wash just drain and spin then start filling for the first rinse. My Bosch has a graduated rinse on synthetics to prevent shock creasing but the Siltal just drains with gentle action and then fills for the first rinse and neither machine has ever ruined a garment. The Hotpoint has a plastic tank and that too has a cold top-up.
The cold top-up should not be confused with the “Dilution Rinse” on old Hoovers which did this on all programmes except wool wash, as that was already at high level, this was to aid rinsing and drain more deteregent and muck off before the first rinse. Most machines of that era had a dilution rinse including the old Zanussi you are interested in.
HTH,
Oliver.
whichwasher2007 says
if were talking about the original email, for carol, and if she is thinking of getting a samsung then, yes it has a 95’c cycle but only reaches 80’c on the 95’c cycle, still it holds 80’c for 10mins or so, so all bacteria is deffinatly killed
the only positive of 95’c over 90’c is that white garments will come out ever so slightly (barley noticiable) whiter.
for wmuser: the 50’c artical label was abolished a few years ago, and the 60’c synthetics artical lable was abolished way before that, it came for no need to have the 50’c wash cycle
so most manufactures today with variable temps (LED format) will offer – 95/90, 60, 40, 30, cold
wierdly however hotpoints max temp for synthetics is 50’c, not 60’c and i think they are gonna not ever up it to 60’c
Gary Parnwell says
I have an LG steam washing machine, with no 50’c cycle whic I really miss. I have heard some machines wash at 50.c not 60.c on their sysnthectic cycles… anyone aware LG are the same??
Whitegoodshelp (Andy Trigg) says
I think the 50 degree temperature died out a long time back, it probably isn’t a temperature with any specific merits. It’s 10 degrees lower than 60, which would still be hot and save money, but 60 degrees is the temperature which kills bugs and bacteria.
kelsey says
my hotpoint whirlpool
has a 95 degree anti bacterial wash