Low wash could leave 'germs' in wash

Today's article in Daily Mail and probably numerous other sources.

I read all two pages of comments which took me ages.

Here's a summary of what I learned from the articles and readers' comments and answers:

Objections to hot washes:

1 Heat - Hot wash destroys clothes. Some countries (USA and Asia) have machines which only operate limited cycles or on cold.

2 Time - Hot wash takes too long.

3 Survival - Rubbish - we've survived thousands of years.

4 Cold - cold water is OK - Yes, people wash clothes in cold rivers.

5 I'm OK - Rubbish - despite this I'm healthy.

6 We're OK - Where R the sick!

7 Blame - blame the manufacturers, overpaid scientists, media.

Supporters of hot washes say:

1 To not destroy lycra and elastic or synthetic gym clothes and sportwear and stop gym clothes smelling use one third Milton tablet on sportswear.

Cold rivers are flowing water and my flat's not riverside.

2 Time - run the hot wash with white sheets in it. Buy white sheets. For quickly separating cloths have separate laundry baskets.

3 People did not survive. Millions died of plague; complications of 1918 flu.

4 Clothes might look clean but still smell.

5 You may be OK but you are one family. Others have illness - as doctors and hospitals and cemeteries show. You might be survivors - always somebody who survived WWII or ran across a road and was OK. We must speak for the ones who didn't survive and prevent those who are vulnerable and in poor health getting worse and help them stay in work and healthy and happy

6. Cemeteries show cause of death. My family history shows once child in ten dying and men dying aged 50. Students may survive but babies, people in third world countries and the over 50s die. MRSA doesn't kill you but kills over 50s in hospitals.

7 Thanks - scientists are paid less than bankers and sports personalities and can save our lives. I had a problem with black mould in washing machine. Now I have the suggested answers:

Pull out powder/liquid tray to check gunk; leave door open after use to air machine; see and clean black mould from rubber ring around machine door closing area, run a hot wash (with or without clothes).

Grease melts at 40 degrees.

Bleach removes limescale clogging machine/pipes.

Spirit vinegar/citric acid products likewise.

Soda crystals.

Keep undies and baby clothes separate from tea-towels,

White sheets and white tee-towels can be boil-washed.

Separate synthetic clothes.

Separate clothes which might shrink or fade.

Olden days we had cotton clothes, a big copper pot and washerwoman (or male dhoby in Singapore - Angela) or wash day when boiled water was used in butler's pantry sink.

These 'facts' are only derived from the manufacturers' claims readers' comments. Please check for yourself manufacturers' claims, cross-referenced with scientific articles.