Cleaner clothes. H or C water

[Disney Ontario]

Does the tempeture of the water detemine if your clothes come clean. I was thinking maybe its just my old washing machine too. I even bought Tide to do the job, but still the clothes are not picture perfect. Should stains be removed better with hot or cold water? Thats my question on the day.

 

[ChrisnSteph]

The only clothes I wash in hot are whites. Everything else is warm wash/cold rinse, though sometimes I wash certain darks or brights in cold water.

 

[TN Traveler]

My 9 yr old daughter gets ketchup, chocolate and everything else you can think of, on her clothes so I am a true believer in pre-treating stains. I use Shout and/or Spray N Wash. For whites I wash in Hot water but pretty much everything else I wash in cold water w/a cold water rinse. For my dish towels and dish clothes, I'll soak in 2 parts bleach to 1 part water and allow to soak for a few mins before I throw in the washer w/the rest. Amazing what a little bleach can do!
I prefer Gain or All for Whites, Cheer for jeans and dress clothes. DH is allergic to Tide so never use it.

Karen

 

[Nik's Mom]

Another believer in pre-treating stains. Except I use liquid tide to pre-treat. I wash whites in hot and everything else in cold. I do the whites in hot because that's how I was taught. But why are we supposed to wash them in hot? I'm curious?

 

[Disney Ontario]

Hi again. I am doing loads of laundry right now. After my first load of whites turned out still dirty, I took all the under garmets and soaked in hot water/bleach/detergent. Then put them through a wash again. Yep no improvement. Just dingy clothing. I still think its either my older machine pluss we have hard water too.

 

[ksjayhawks]

I would guess that your hard water has more to do with it than anything! Having a water softener makes a huge difference, plus cuts down on amount of detergent that you have to use. Have you tried any products with whiteners--like borax or oxiclean?