You can save money easily while washing your clothes by washing your loads of laundry in cold water or sometimes warm water, but never hot water. Many people think washing clothes in hot water will get them cleaner, sorry, but you are wrong. Learn to save money on electricity if you are using a electric water heater or save on gas if you are using a gas water heater. Continue reading to find out why washing clothes in hot water is a waste of money.
Why Not Wash in Hot Water
Washing your clothes in hot water is really a waste of electric or gas depending on what your water heater uses. The reason washing your laundry in hot water is a waste because most people have their water heater set at 120°F – 140°F. When your washer is set to hot water it only allows hot water to enter the washer, no cold water is added. Therefore your clothes are being washed in 120°F – 140°F hot water when dirt, grime, body odors, sweat, etc. are all best dislodged at 100°F! So that extra gas or electric used to make the water 20°F – 40°F hotter is wasted for no reason at all!
How Can I Make My Washer Use 100°F Water For Warm Water
You rarely need to use warm water to wash your clothes in, but for those loads of laundry that do require warm water you will want to make sure your clothes washer is only using 100°F warm water. Most clothes washers will open both cold water and hot water valves 100% to get it’s warm water. So it will mix 50% cold and 50% hot water to make it’s warm water. Most of you will have around 50°F cold water and 140°F hot water mixing. Your cold water will also depend on the temperature outside and inside your home. The best way to adjust the temperature of your warm water is by adjusting the valves manually yourself. While doing a load of laundry use a thermometer after the water is completely filled and starts swishing around so you know it is mixed well. Take your water temperature during that load and see what it is. If your water temperature is above 100°F, reach behind your washer and turn down the hot water valve. If the water is below 100°F turn down the cold water valve. After you have done this, check the temperature again during your next load of laundry. Keep repeating this process until your washer’s warm water achieves 100°F. Also note, you may have to make this adjustment in the summer and in the winter as your cold water’s temperature will change slightly.
How Much Money Will I Save Washing Clothes in 100°F Water
It cost’s about $0.30/load of laundry washed in 140°F hot water. Which the average family will do 312 loads of laundry a year, so $93.60/year is spent to do laundry using hot water. NOTE: $93.60/year is just spent on heating the water, not including the cost of electricity to power the washer itself. If you use 100°F warm water to wash your clothes it cost about $0.16/load of laundry. So 312 loads a year in warm water will cost $49.92/year to heat your water. So if you wash your clothes in warm water instead of hot water you will save $43.68/year!
How Much Money Will I Save Washing Clothes in Cold Water
Being that cold water is not heated at all you will save $93.60/year by washing your clothes in cold water instead of hot water!
How Can I Save Even More Money Washing Clothes
If you want to save more money you could even use a Wonderwash hand crank clothes washer, which uses no electricity or gas at all! You can’t do a whole lot of laundry per load, but if you wash a portion of your clothes in it you will save even more money! If you are a single person or even just you and 1 other person, you could use the Wonderwash to wash all of your laundry. If you have children you can give them some small chores like doing the laundry using the Wonderwash! The clothes will come out of the Wonderwash very wet, so you will want to use a clothes spinner or clothes wringer to get the extra water out before hanging on a clothesline or clothes drying rack to dry or put in your electric clothes dryer or gas clothes dryer.
You can also read my go green tip: Save Money Doing Laundry Drying Clothes to learn how to save even more money while drying your clothes!
May 6th, 2011 at 4:26 PM
I have been looking at purchasing a set of solar panels from Costco. The panels are rated at 60 watt. What can I expect to support using a 60 watt solar panel?
Lester
May 19th, 2011 at 8:46 PM
Lester,
60watt solar panel can power 1 60watt light bulb, netbook, cellphones, router, cable box, possibly a laptop, or a game console, but not all at the same time. Only 1 at a time, unless it is router and a netbook as they wont draw much power.