How do you wash towels and sheets?

[Rianne]

I purchased high quality percale sheets and have Turkish cotton towels. The new sheets specify wash in cold water and no bleach. What? I get bleach over time breaks down cotton but how do you sanitize sheets and towels? All my linens are white. I use hot water and bleach. The towels have held up nicely. Plus, the new sheet description brag about the 4 and 5 star hotels that use them. Are they saying these hotels wash them in cold water with no bleach?

 

[davebarnes]

Use the sanitize cycle on your washer.

 

[Rianne]

Use the sanitize cycle on your washer.

My washing machine is GE and is 15 years old. It's so simple a 2 year old could operate it. So, I don't have a sanitize cycle.

 

[davebarnes]

My washing machine is GE and is 15 years old. It's so simple a 2 year old could operate it. So, I don't have a sanitize cycle.

Buy a new washer.
Keep a German factory worker employed.
Buy this washer. https://www.mieleusa.com/e/w1-front...windos-and-wificonn-ct-lotus-white-10666180-p
It has detergent and bleach (peroxide) dispensing systems.
Sanitize cycle. And, myriad others.

 

[Indiana Randy]

Google is your friend;

How to Disinfect Laundry Without Bleach » How To Clean Stuff.net

 

[W2R]

My washing machine is GE and is 15 years old. It's so simple a 2 year old could operate it. So, I don't have a sanitize cycle.

Wash them twice? I think that sheets would be perfectly fine after going through a normal washing machine cycle with your usual laundry detergent. Well, unless one of you has the flu.

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.

 

[jim584672]

I put my masks in an Instant Pot pressure cooker for a few minutes to sanitize them.

 

[Nemo2]

I don't know...we've only had our sheets about 12 years, so the question has never come up.

 

[latexman]

Towels - cold water and detergent.

Linens - cold water, detergent, and fabric softener.

 

[mystang52]

Lysol sells Laundry Sanitizer that you add to the wash cycle. We use it.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

We just use the "sheets & towels" cycle, which I think is warm/cold, with just detergent. I don't see why they would need to be treated any differently than clothes that have also been touching my body, except that towels and sheets tend to be more absorbent and so need more spin and drying time.

 

[audreyh1]

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

 

[Boho]

Water of a certain hotness destroys bleach. When I do my hand wash, I wash everything in hot water with detergent, drain, refill the basin with very warm water, and add bleach if I'm washing sheets. No bleach for towels, but I used to use bleach for towels in a machine.

 

[REWahoo]

Water of a certain hotness destroys bleach.

Source?

This info from the Clorox website appears to say something quite different.

washing white and safely bleachable colorfast items... in the hottest water possible will give you the best cleaning and whitening performance because its effectiveness increases with temperature.

https://www.clorox.com/how-to/laundry-basics/bleach-101/hot-water-and-bleach/

 

[pacergal]

I wouldn't worry about it. Use cold water and detergent, the agitation and soap disrupt the bacteria, I believe.
And It is the heat of the dryer that will help kill any other bacteria, or the sun if you line dry.

 

[jollystomper]

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

+1

There are some areas where I try not to overthink things. This is one of them.

 

[Sunset]

I don't know...we've only had our sheets about 12 years, so the question has never come up.

ha ha ha..

Our cheap sheets don't have those careful instructions, I should complain

 

[Midpack]

I wash towels and sheets with baking soda, a little detergent and a white vinegar rinse. They come out cleaner and softer than with any detergent I've tried. We don't have any white linens or towels so I never use bleach on those items anyway.

I've read OxiClean White Revive is a good alternative to bleach FWIW https://www.oxiclean.com/en/products/stain-fighters/white-revive-powder-chlorine-bleach-alternative. I tried it on some dirty white socks and it helped but not as effective as bleach IME.

 

[Gumby]

We put them in the washer with the standard powder detergent that we make at home, which has OxyClean in it (along with baking soda, washing soda, borax, Zote bar soap and TSP).

 

[FIREd]

I just use my regular detergent and I wash in 195ºF water.

 

[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]

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.