When to Use Cold Water: Use cold water (80°F) for things that are fragile or have dark or bright colors that bleed. Cold water is a great option for people who care about the environment and want to save energy. If you like to wash your clothes in cold water, you might need to soak or treat them first if they are very dirty.
Darker clothes should be washed in cold water instead of hot water because hot water can make the color fade. Optical brighteners help make clothes brighter and whiter. They are usually added to laundry detergents that can only be used with cold water.
Even though detergents made for cold water may not work as well when the temperature of the water in the washer drops below 40 degrees because it is cold outside, this helps keep dark clothes from fading. Don’t use the cold-water wash setting if you live somewhere that gets very cold in the winter. Instead, wash with warm water and then rinse with cold water.
Use cold water on washable silk, swimwear, sportswear, and delicate lingerie with dark or bright colors that may bleed or fade (80 degrees F; 27 degrees C). Woolens that can be cleaned shrink less when they are washed in cold water. Even clothes that aren’t too dirty are fine.
You might be surprised to learn that hot water doesn’t work well on all stains. When the temperature goes up, stains often become set in the fabric for good. Our green hero, cold water, has arrived. It can get rid of any kind of stain, like grass, blood, sweat, and even makeup. Also, washing with cold water keeps stains from setting in and staying there.
Laundry is a pretty easy thing to do. Your clothes are put into neat piles of dark colors, bright colors, whites, and other colors before they go into the washing machine. Then you can choose whether you want your washer to be hot, warm, or cold. Are you confused by all of the options for washing temperatures?
With a candy thermometer, you can check the temperature of the water coming out of your washing machine to see if it is cold, warm, or hot. Hot water is often 130 degrees Fahrenheit or above. Water that is between 90 and 110 degrees Fahrenheit is called “warm water.” Also, water between 60 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit is usually thought of as cold. If your cold water is less than 60 degrees Fahrenheit, it’s usually too cold to wash clothes.
A lot of people learned that white clothes make hot laundry and dark clothes make cold laundry. Zinna says that using cold water for most of your loads “provides an excellent clean, is more environmentally friendly, and makes your clothes last longer by keeping them from getting worn down.”