How do you wash towels and sheets?

[target2019]

Hot water and small amount of concentrated detergent. Rinse is cold. Our HW is about 115 degrees. 10-year old towels don't care.

[RobbieB]

I wash everything in cold water with standard detergent.

[Boho]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo Source?

Here's an interesting answer from Clorox.com. It's wrong where it says bleaching "in the hottest water possible will give you the best cleaning and whitening." The same paragraph says "Clorox® Regular Bleach2 should ideally be stored at room temperature (70°F) because the active ingredient in liquid bleach, sodium hypochlorite, is very sensitive to high heat storage conditions."

The CDC says "too great an increase in temperature causes the disinfectant to degrade and weakens its germicidal activity and thus might produce a potential health hazard." That's not just about storage. It's about "disinfectant procedures: temperature, pH, relative humidity, and water hardness." It's not specific though, and the section on Chlorine and Chlorine Compounds doesn't address this.

This is pretty good though:

"Aqueous hypochlorite solutions of 1, 2.62, and 5.25% kept 100% of their available chlorine at 20, 45, and 60°C [140 F] during the whole experimental period (60 min)."

Sirtes G, Waltimo T, Schaetzle M, Zehnder M. The Effects of Temperature on Sodium Hypochlorite Short-Term Stability, Pulp Dissolution Capacity, and Antimicrobial Efficacy. J Endod. 2005;31(9) 669-671

But water temperatures over 140 F weren't tested.

[W2R]

I am washing my sheets as I type. Being some sort of female embodiment of Ebenezer Scrooge at his worst, I only have one set of sheets. I wash them, dry them, and then put them back on the bed later the same day.

My sheets are microfiber which I do not recommend. They are hot and "slimpsy" if you know what I mean. I just don't like the feel or texture. I bought them from Amazon a few years back out of curiosity. One small advantage is that they are big enough that I don't have to use much muscle to get the fitted sheet on.

In case anyone is curious, am washing them in my washer on the heavy duty cycle, which is about twice as long as the regular cycle, with my usual Tide Free He laundry detergent. Then I'll dry them in the dryer on a normal cycle. No dryer sheets.

[Teacher Terry]

I wash towels and sheets in hot water without bleach.

[gayl]

I wash everything in cold water and hang to dry 9 months out of the year.

[Nemo2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gayl I wash everything in cold water and hang to dry 9 months out of the year.

Wow..that's a long time to have clothes on the line.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nemo2 Quote: Originally Posted by gayl I wash everything in cold water and hang to dry 9 months out of the year. Wow..that's a long time to have clothes on the line.

No viruses on THOSE sheets by the time she brings them in! Just friendly jokin', gayl, nothing bad meant.

[rodi]

I wash everything on cold. I add vinegar in the rinse. When weather allows, I line dry in the sun.

Vinegar also helps the sheets/towels not get as "crunchy" (stiff) from the line drying.

Between the detergent, vinegar rinse, and disinfecting sunshine I thing the towels and sheets come out sanitized.

[harllee]

I wash my sheets and towels with hot water and a little detergent and I dry them on hot.
That's they way I have always done it since I have been married (48 years) and that is the way my age 90 mother does it--she said it is the way to kill the germs. I did not realize there was any other way. My sheets and towels last forever. I think I last bought some 15 years ago.

[RE2Boys]

towels and whites: detergent and warm water, rinse cold.

colored: detergent and cold water.

sheets same as above. everything goes with second rinse as our son seems to be sensitive to any detergent residue.

Dryer: synthetics on medium, everything else on high heat.

[iloveyoga]

I have washed in cold water with Tide for years, in a very old washing machine.

No issues here.

[Rianne]

Good comments. After obsessive research the dryer is the important part of killing germs. And cleaning the washing machine with bleach periodically by running a cycle without clothes, just bleach and water. Drying clothes completely at a high temp for at least 28 minutes does the trick.

[iloveyoga]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rianne Good comments. After obsessive research the dryer is the important part of killing germs. And cleaning the washing machine with bleach periodically by running a cycle without clothes, just bleach and water. Drying clothes completely at a high temp for at least 28 minutes does the trick.

Yes to all of the above!

[Amethyst]

I do. They smell great when they come in.

In fact I hardly ever use the dryer, unless it's raining.

I figure any germ that survives the wash cycle, plus the tea tree oil which I add, deserves to live.

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R My mother used to hang the sheets out in the sunshine to dry, which probably helps to sanitize them too. I never do that myself.

[rk911]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 Soap is good enough IMO. It’s not like you are doing hospital laundry.

+1. we've had three sets of sheets for years and alternate them. each set is washed with tide in hot water. no loss of elasticity or comfort.

[davebarnes]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 Soap is good enough IMO.

Soap is horrible. Lots of fat in soap.
Use detergent.

[badatmath]

Never occurred to me to NOT use hot water don't you need that to kill dust mites? I have horrid allergies - wash everything in hot.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by davebarnes Soap is horrible. Lots of fat in soap. Use detergent.

Well, excuse me for calling laundry detergent soap.

[Rianne]

Quote:

Originally Posted by badatmath Never occurred to me to NOT use hot water don't you need that to kill dust mites? I have horrid allergies - wash everything in hot.

The dryer will kill dust mites too. But hot water helps. It makes me think of ticks. The dryer kills ticks, not the washing machine.