Does cold water clean and kill germs?

Question

I am asking because this is usually listed as one of the biggest ways that we can conserve energy but i dont think that cold water cleans as effectively as hot water. Any thoughts or opinions?

ok folks i am not just talking about for hand washing-i am talking about running the dishwasher and washing machine on cold, taking a bath, shower or wash up in the winter with cold water.

Seems like most folks dont believe cold water cleans as effectively as hot water but the jury is still out-i think there is a best answer here already but someone could provide more info that would shed even more light on this issue :-)

Answer 1

No, hot water cleans more effectivley then the cold water, reason is simple hot water have more penitration power then the cold because of its less viscosity....in simple term it is more thinner than the cold water.

Answer 2

Does Cold Water Kill Germs

Answer 3

To kill germs with water, items must be submersed in boiling water for 3-5 minutes. Even hot water won't kill germs, but as it's been mentioned early, the warm water makes soap work more effectively which means lower water usage.

I don't know of any agency that advocates bathing in cold water, or washing dishes & clothes in cold water as a conservation measure ~ but, you can be using cold water rinses for all your daily dishwasher and laundry chores.

For outdoor washing duties~ such as washing the dog, the car, patio furniture, garbage cans or more~ I let the energy of the sun heat up some water in an old galvanized wash basin. If you have a smaller place, you can even purchase a solar shower to hang up outside to generate some warm water for small housecleaning tasks.

Answer 4

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RE:
Does cold water clean and kill germs?
I am asking because this is usually listed as one of the biggest ways that we can conserve energy but i dont think that cold water cleans as effectively as hot water. Any thoughts or opinions?

Answer 5

The obvious: it's hot. Boil up some water. Now stick your hand in it for five minutes. (WAIT, Don't really do that part!) What do you notice? Those scarring blisters are caused by the heat of the water. Most organic tissue is adversely affected by hot water. Now, drop a candle in it. You'll notice the candle is melting. Candles, and cells have a lot in common actually. The cell walls, and all other membranes in an organism are composed of a bi-lipid membrane. Candle wax is one of many lipids, and like the lipids in cell walls, it melts into a goo when things get hot enough. Lipids also form grease, fats, and oils. Most of the things that stick to dishes are composed of one of these chemical compounds, and all of them get softer with heat. Drop an egg in the hot water, and leave it there for a while. The insides, which used to be liquid have all hardened. Did you know that a chicken egg starts off as one single cell? Well, it does. The inside of the egg contains a nucleus (the yolk) where all the genetic information is stored, and cytoplasm (the yolk) where all the work of the cell goes on. Heating it turns both of these into solids. It's pretty hard for a single celled organism like a germ to survive when the parts that are supposed to be gooey turn hard. One more thing: Get a second container of cold water. Put a drop of food coloring in both. You'll notice the food coloring spreads out through the water a lot faster in the hot water. Hot water contains molecules that are moving faster. This lets the soap mix in better, it lets the water get into the food faster, and it gets more of the food and stuff into the water (and off the dishes) faster.

Answer 6

We started washing all our clothes in cold water to save energy. We use the liquid detergent. Our clothes seem just as clean. Good old soap and cold water will also clean your hands. When I was young we did not have hot water unless we heated it on the stove, and we only did that to warm up a bath enough for it to be comfortable. We never had a problem with keeping clean. I live in a country now where most people don't use hot water. They live longer and are healthier than the US population. You do not need hot water, anti bacterial soaps, Bottled water, and a perfectly clean environment to be healthy. It is all just a lot of brainwashing marketing crap.

Answer 7

Soap kills most germs. As for dish washing warm water does do better at killing germs from illness and food borne illness (food poisoning) but you can rinse with cold. Yea they don't dry as fast but if you have a small load you can let air dry in the strainer. Plus look for the energy star many new machine have a internal heating boost to save energy.

Hand washing use the warm water rinse in cold but turn off the water when not using. Things are scraped and rinse first. I like to start with a little amount of water in a basin to use less water then for a full sink, rinse with warm (the cups plates and silverware are first) into my basin to add more water for the bigger stuff. Just my little trick. PS I save that water for the Garbage Disposal for the food I can't use in my compost pile.

Landry has came a long way. We now have cold-water detergents that are formulated to work in cold water. But diapers and baby clothes (even the elderly or anyone with a auto immune system disease) clothing because their systems are more weaker to infections or illness. Plus look for the energy star when buying a new machine to save energy.

Showers use less energy then baths. Take shorter showers and use a energy saving shower head. Soap kills germs. Anti-bacterial soaps do more harm than good they destroy helpfull bacteria as well as the bad . They keep your bodies immune system strong.

Answer 8

In every situation some germs are killed, so at cold water

Answer 9

If it is very cold if possible it can kill germs, but not such hot water that can kill almost all the germs.

Answer 10

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Heat can destroy cellular structures, for you this means burning your finger, for a bacteria this means dying. As far as the dish cleaning goes, all other things being equal things like to mix, this is a process called entropy. Normally all other things aren't totally equal, and there are other forces involved (this is why everything isn't a gas). When you increase the temperature, you increase the driving force of entropy making things want to mix more. For example, if you saturate a solution with salt, then heat it up, you can get more to dissolve....the same is true for grease. For a more extreme case think about gasoline and water, as liquids they don't mix particularly well, but if you heat them enough to evaporate them, the gases mix perfectly (gases have very high entropy).