Washing Machine

monseiur

Hi all,

This may be a stupid question and I'm not sure if it's an electrical, plumbing or other query... but here goes : Parents have a standard Zanussi front loading washing machine connected to cold water supply. Domestic hot water in house is heated by back boiler in solid fuel stove. Literally gallons of very hot water goes unused every day, especially in winter - would it make sense to connect the washing machine to the hot water supply instead of machine having to heat water from cold. I assume that all water used by the machine is heated as part of the wash cycle. Are there sensors etc. in these machines that the hot water may f...k up assuming of course it's always pre set at the highest temperature.

Thanks

Sleeper12

Years ago all washing machines came with hot & cold feed. These had a bad energy rating. I have to run my kitchen tap to expel 6 litres of cold water before the hot reaches the sink. It would be the same for my washing machine. So if I connected washing machine to my hot supply then most, if not all of the water entering the machine would still be cold & need to be heated by the machine. The difference is I'd be leaving 6 liters of warm water in the pipe unused. If the hot water cylinder is directly beside the washing machine then it may be cheaper to run. If upstairs & has a normal run to the machine then it's more wasteful to connect to the hot.

Modern washing machines (& dishwashers) actually don't use a lot of water compared to 20 or 30 years ago

KildareP

Wouldn't recommend to be honest, for the reason above plus:

The solid fuel is uncontrolled so the hot water could be extremely hot, far too hot for the clothes. It most likely won't damage the machine since all machines are built with boil washes in mind - although the manufacturer will probably walk away from any issues you might have if its under warranty.

A lot of machines will fill cold, but don't start to heat the water immediately. It might assume that it takes a certain length of time for the water to heat from cold with this initial delay included, so if the water is at temperature immediately upon filling then the wash has obviously run for that defined length of time and it will go straight into rinsing having just filled up without ever having actually washed the clothes.

Supposedly cold water is also better at rinsing out detergent than hot but your rinse cycles would be done with hot water.

buzzerxx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058233466/washing-machine

Great question, i wondered that myself. great answers also.

coylemj

OP, if you feed hot water into an inlet designed to take cold water, you will have no control over the temperature of the water in the machine. Which would be a bad idea when washing woolens or colours.

Miele washing machines have always only had a cold inlet because in mainland Europe, domestic households typically don't have stored hot water. But if you bought a washing machine designed for the UK or Irish markets back in the 80s or 90s, it would have come with hot and cold inlets.