Washing in Warm vs. Washing in Hot?

[chely7425]

Is there a difference in how clean the diapers get? Is there a difference in the energy usage as far as heating the hot water? Right now we have a pretty basic wash routine, hot wash/cold rinse with soap and then a hot wash/cold rinse with nothing since we can only do cold rinses. We are trying to cut down our electric bill as much as possible and I was wondering if switching to warm washes would yield the same clean diaper results with a lower energy bill..

[Perdita_in_Ontario]

I'm currently experimenting with this. I think you should at least be able to switch the rinse to a warm without noticing a difference.

I'm trying warm/cold, warm/cold and so far I'm not seeing or smelling a difference. I'm a little suspicious that my synthetics are wicking more though...

[chely7425]

Hmm... we use mostly PFs with a few pockets thrown in so maybe it is worth a shot!

[Beauchamp]

You rinse in warm?

I've always rinsed in cold. (A short cold wash, hot wash with detergent, cold wash or just an extra rinse in cold, depending on the machine and where I am.)

[TheGirls]

I would do the rinse in just cold. I do hot wash/cold rinse/2nd cold rinse and call it done. I don't know about the warm wash but it might be worth a try. IME hot rinse is overkill though.

[chely7425]

We don't have the option of hot rinses, and we have super hard water so cold rinses don't work and we get build up and stinkies REALLY fast, so we do a hot wash/cold rinse with soap and then a hot wash/cold rinse with nothing. I know people do wash their diapers in cold water and back home (WA state) I totally could (and did) but here is just doesn't work so I am wondering if warm might be a happy medium...

[Katie T]

I have found what works for my water and it is cold wash no soap, warm/cold wash w/soap a soak if I remember/feel like it, and warm cold washes with no soap as my rinses. I do that until I see no suds during agitation.

I have played around a ton but have something that has worked for over a yr with no stipping or stinkies so I stick with it.

I also have found that cold rinses don't get the detergent out in my water at least so that is why I do the warm. We have very hard water btw.

[chely7425]

So Katie, with your hard water warm works but cold doesn't? Maybe I will try warm if it seems to work generally as well...

[eclipse]

I always washed my diapers completely in cold water, and they were fine - no stink, no build up, nothing. They got hot enough in the dryer to kill any nasties.