What is the lowest temperature wash which will effectively kill bacteria in fabric?

Question

I use a colour-protecting detergent in my washing machine which doesn't contain bleach, so there's not a lot to kill bacteria apart from the water temperature. If I intentionally skip the fabric freshner & leave a towel damp after washing it starts to smell after a few days, so I can only guess the wash isn't killing off bacteria.

When I left the towel damp I left it sealed in the machine after a 50c wash + rinses with chlorinated water.

Answer 1

A temperature of 140 - 165 F kills most bacteria.
However I would think that the "warm" setting on your machine would be good enough because of the presence of detergent which kills a lot of bacteria even at the lower temp. You can wash towels on hot if you are worried about it. If you leave any clothing damp for a few days it will start to grow mold & bacteria. It picks it up the air. You should always dry towels to completion after washing them, either by "hot "setting on a dryer or hang it outside to dry.

Answer 2

Water temperature won't make much of a difference. Soap and bleach are the only things that will have a chance really killing the bacteria, and even those won't be 100% effective. Leaving wet clothes lying around will cause bacterial growth - because its not really possible to get every tiny bacteria in every fiber of cloth. Additionally, the bacteria from the air will "recontaminate" the clothing (especially when wet) and grow. The best thing to slow growth is wash the clothes with fabic softener and immediately dry them - the fabric softener will loosen the fabric allowing better cleaning, but it won't be perfect. Keeping it dry is the most effective.

Answer 3

The purpose of washing clothes with detergent isn't to kill bacteria. The machine or your hands use the agitation process as a means of applying mechanical friction, 'shaking off' or scrubbing dirt and albeit some bacteria away. The detergents and soaps trap the dirt and rinse it away. Unless you are washing with bleach or lysol (don't do that you'll ruin your clothes, haha) you'll still have some bacteria on your laundry.

Answer 4

most bacteria in the northern hemisphere will die at 0 kelvin and 100 kelvin. It is the warming up and cooling down that causes the bacteria to form and multiply.

Your wash powder will kill most of the bacteria along with old fashioned water. Make sure it is dry and it will be clean enough for use

Answer 5

140 degrees F will kill most bacteria. Your detergent kills bacteria also. However leaving the towels damp in the washer will cause them to smell.The dryer kills bacteria. Sunshine helps kill bacteria if you are drying them outside. THey need air.

Do not set you water heater for 140F because it could easily burn someone who doesnt know that it is set that ot.

Answer 6

You would have to boil it to kill all bacteria which is not really possible in a washing machine. You would probably kill most with hot water but it doesn't take them long to recover their population. There are also bacterial spores in the air that would quickly inhabit anything exposed.

Answer 7

You can't kill bacteria.
Any you kill will resettle the moment it comes out of the machine.
Bacteria is part of life, accept it.
If you want to clean at low temperatures, you need a special detergent which works at low temps, but be aware, that in doing this, it will contiue to work as a detergent when flushed away in the environment, at low temperatures, therefoe pollutioning much more than a normal detergent

Answer 8

The soap used for washing and the water itself will kill any damaging bacteria. Of course there is always bacteria in the environment, so you can't get rid of it once and for all.

Answer 9

Not necessarily. After several days bacteria will start to grow causing the smell. You could do a 95 degree wash and it would still pong after several days.

Answer 10

If you leave damp washing hanging about it'll smell no matter how clean and bacteria free it was to start with.