For the majority of us, laundry day means washing the bulk of our clothes at 40°C. But there will be occasions where we need to wash hotter or cooler to best clean our clothes, while protecting the fabrics.
Our washing machine temperature guide will help you to decide which temperature to clean your clothes at, whether you're washing jeans, whites, coloureds or baby clothes.
If you're in the market for a new washing machine, head straight over to our washing machine reviews.
The answer is yes, you can, depending on if your clothes are stained.
Since 2013, all washing machines in the UK have been required to have a 20°C option visible on the control panel to help save energy.
When we tested machines on the 20°C cottons program, we found that turning down the temperature from 40°C dramatically reduced running costs – by an average of 62%. This is because washing machines need to use less energy to heat water to lower temperatures.
While cleaning power was slightly worse at 20°C compared with 40°C, we found that switching to a liquid detergent helped, and should still be enough for everyday cleaning.
If you wash at low temperatures, it becomes even more important to run a regular monthly maintenance wash with a washing machine cleaner.
Washing at 30°C uses 38% less energy than washing at 40°C, so you can not only make a substantial saving on your utility bill, but also help the planet.
More than a quarter of Which? members use a 30°C program on a regular basis. As you might imagine, it's the recommended setting for a lot of delicate clothes, such as wool and silk – always check the label, though.
Lower temperatures are also good at helping to preserve colourfully dyed fabrics, although a good-quality laundry detergent can help with this, too.
Find out more on the benefits of washing at lower temperatures.
While lower temperatures will be fine for everyday cleaning and save energy, a 40°C wash will be better for tougher stains. As most Which? members we asked frequently use the 40°C temperature setting, we base our testing on the 40°C cottons and synthetics wash programs.
It’s the temperature most clothes - whether made from cotton, linen, viscose, acrylics or more - are recommended to be washed at.
This wash is suitable for polyester/cotton mixtures, nylon, cotton and viscose, but there isn't a good reason to switch to 50°C.
Most stains will be shifted at 40°C and increasing the temperature will eat up more energy.
The 60°C program generally delivers slightly better cleaning than the 40°C program, especially when it comes to greasy stains, and is ideal for bedding and towels. But it will cost you – running costs increase by more than half if you wash at 60°C as opposed to 40°C.
You might be washing at 60°C because you've heard it kills bacteria, but the temperature on its own doesn't. Some bacterial spores and viruses are resistant to washing at 60°C.
You need to combine your 60°C wash with a good detergent to blast that bacteria. So you might be better off simply choosing a good detergent, treating stains and washing at 40°C to get a great clean that doesn't cost a lot to run.
This is the hottest wash program you’ll find on most machines and is only suitable for a few items – a lot of washing labels won't recommend washing at such a high temperature.
But will washing at 90°C actually kill bacteria? The NHS website states that you should wash underwear, towels and household linen at 60°C to prevent the spread of germs, or at 40°C with a bleach-based laundry product (we suggest bio washing powder).
It says nothing about washing at as high as 90°C to kill bacteria.
Denim can shrink and colours will fade, so to avoid shrinkage and to keep your blue jeans blue, don’t wash them at more than 40°C.
If your washing machine has a specialist jeans program – and you have the time to split and separate your wash like this – this will use more water to flush away detergent and spins more gently to avoid creasing.
How to wash clothes - find out more on how to wash denim jeans, baby clothes and underwear.
Select the 60°C cottons program for cotton bed sheets. By washing bed linen, such as sheets, pillow cases and duvet covers, at 60°C – and by using a Best Buy washing powder and laundry detergent – you give yourself a better chance of getting them clean without using the highest temperature setting.
Aim for a 30°C or 40°C wash program for baby clothes. Any hotter and you run the risk of shrinking what can be quite delicate clothes.
You can wash your baby’s clothes with the rest of your laundry or, if your machine has the option, try the baby program.
This will be a little hotter, but rinses more thoroughly – more so than on a normal wash setting – to make absolutely sure that as much detergent as possible has been rinsed away.
If you end up with a pile of pants to wash, set your machine to wash at 60°C for the best results. If your load is very heavily soiled, wash at the highest temperature you can find, which is 90°C on most machines.
No, a cold wash will be colder than this and should involve no heating of the water at all. But some detergents won’t be as effective at low temperatures. A cold wash is an option if you’re washing delicates, or your clothes are brightly coloured and just need to be refreshed a little.
40°C will feel warm and, with some exceptions, most of your laundry will end up being washed at 40°C.
Think about 60°C as a hot wash and 90°C as a very hot wash. Reserve the latter for occasions where your clothes’ fabrics are robust enough to stand up to the heat, but need the temperature to help shift the stains.
Separating white clothes from coloured clothes is more important than the temperature you wash them at. If you separate them, you give yourself the best chance of avoiding colours from other clothes bleeding into them.
The temperature you wash at will depend upon how dirty they are, how robust the items are and how dirty they are.
If you’re just washing your white bed sheets and other linen, 60°C will be fine. If you have a filthy white rugby or a football kit that’s stained with mud, blood, grass and everything else a Saturday morning on the playing fields has to offer, similarly opt for a higher temperature.
Washing a mixture of bright colours together is fine and only becomes a problem if any whites end up in the load. Again, 30°C would be a good temperature to wash and this will help the fabrics to retain their colour.
Find a great machine for washing coloured clothes among our best washing machines.
Washing machines often have as many as 20 programs for washing, rinsing and spinning. These can include a baby clothes wash that has several rinses to make sure as much detergent is removed from the garments as possible, an easy iron program and intensive programs to help shift stubborn stains.
For more information on these programs and more, consult our washing machine jargon buster.