Clothes washing: saving energy vs. killing germs

[kimberley-k]

I have been washing all of our clothes in cold water to save energy. But, it seems gross that things with a little bit of poop (baby clothes or preschooler underpants) are in there with things like face washcloths and kitchen towels that we dry dishes, bottles, and breastpump parts with. I do wash all of our bath towels separately in hot water.

What do you think? Should I be doing the kitchen towels in their own separate load? Seems like a big waste of energy and water but I don't see any other way to make sure that microscopic amounts of poop don't end up on them.

-Kim

[brittone2]

You are likely exposed to microscopic amounts of poop anyway, kwim?

Would you feel better if you threw some vinegar in your wash loads? I do that fairly often.

I do use some hot wash cycles even though I'd like to move away from doing so. I do most clothes on cold, but I do towels and bedding on hot at least 50% of the time.

[jent]

My envi-conscious MIL told me that the dryer heat kills germs better than the hot water in the wash (and for those that line-dry, I think that the sunlight kills germs too). The hotness of the water is mainly to help the detergent get stains out. Not sure if this is true or not.

[nicanddrew]

The studies that show the microscopic amounts of poop that end up on our toothbrushes gross me out more than the laundry:)

I throw kitchen towels in with diapers (after the initial soak has removed any solids) so they get washed in hot without having to do an extra load...We do towels and sheets in hot as well, but everything else in cold.

[JBaxter]

My sock, underware t-shirt load gets done on hot with some oxyclean. Ever see/smell a 17yr old's white tshirt after lifting weights for an hour or 2 :47: ? Everything else besides Jack's diapers get done on cold.

[wellyes]

I don't think the hot ever gets hot enough to kill germs (same thing with handwashing). It just helps the detergent work a little better. So, it helps get out stinks and stains, but germ-wise it's the same.

[egoldber]

I used to wash on cold until our washer repair guy once told me we need to use warm to get the water hot enough to fully activate the detergent.

[1964pandora]

I used to wash on cold until our washer repair guy once told me we need to use warm to get the water hot enough to fully activate the detergent.

So true. I was also washing everything in cold up until recently. I blamed the fact that stains weren't coming out on our hard water, but I think it was simply that cold water doesn't even activate the detergent. I'm still a bit confused because they say that hotter water sets stains, so that's why I always used cold. I guess warm is the answer and pre-soak serious stains?

[maestramommy]

When I was working on a poop stink problem on my cloth dipes, the person at Charlie's Soap told me that hot water kills germs from cold and flu, but not poop. To kill those germs you need either bleach, or some enzyme cleaner like Bac-out. This of course, also depends on the hardness of your water (our water is pretty hard). So when I wash my dipes, I still use hot water, but I also use Bac-out. But I'm trying to control odor, which seems to be harder than just washing away bits of poop.