5 ms·

For me the biggest problem with laundry symbols is that they're often printed so small that after a few washes they become too blurry to recognize. Also, while

For me the biggest problem with laundry symbols is that they're often printed so small that after a few washes they become too blurry to recognize. Also, while I can feel with my hand whether water is "cold," "warm," or "hot." I honestly have no idea what the actual temperature of the water in my washer is in degrees Celsius. Furthermore, I live in the US (which is not where any of my clothes are made), so there's the added step of trying to convert the degrees from Celsius to Fahrenheit.

masklinn 4y ago
> Also, while I can feel with my hand whether water is "cold," "warm," or "hot." I honestly have no idea what the actual temperature of the water in my washer is in degrees Celsius. The explicit temperatures are for machine washing, don't you just... set the washing temperature to whatever you want? If you're washing by hand, it's unlikely that you're washing above 40C, and that's if you like hurting yourself: at 50C (120F) serious burns take about 10mn, at 60C (140F) it's around 3 seconds.
- jrochkind1 4y ago
  My US market washing machine has settings for "hot", "warm", and "cold", but if there's a way to set temperature to a number, it is not intuitive and I am not aware of it (it may exist this is a 'digital' machine!). If it did have a way to set a wash temp to an arbitrary number, it would presumably be in F not C! I think this is typical for US washing machines? Do (eg) European washing machines instead typically have you set wash temp to an arbitrary number of °C?
  - cameronh90 4y ago
    All washing machines I've used in the UK have a temperature selector dial. They usually offer a number of presets such as 30c, 40c, 60c and 90c.
    - jrochkind1 4y ago
      Interesting! I don't believe that's how USA washing machines work, they usually just say "hot", "warm", and "cold". Apparently USAians are washing machine philistines who don't need more than three temperatures and don't know what they are? Anyway, this shows another challenge in these icons, the international diversity of washing techniques and technology. (Edit: I found one possible answer online -- Euro washing machines may actually have water heaters built in, while American washing macchines may just use the existing house "hot water supply". So Euro machines can heat to desired temp, while American ones just have to take what they get! Why THAT was done that way, I don't know, difference in hot water heating technology choices? Euro houses don't usually have a central "hot water tank" like US has? Why THAT is would be yet another question...).
      - el-salvador 4y ago
        In Latin America our home washing machines are usually connected to ‘cold’ water only. Except in homes with separate cold/hot water pipes.
        masklinn 4y ago
        It's the same in europe. I know semi-professional or professional dishwashers are sometimes connected to both hot and cold inputs, not sure whether that is the case for washing machines though I wouldn't be shocked.
      - bombcar 4y ago
        I suspect washers with heaters come from places that original had cold water only. The reality is we are overthinking it - "cold/warm/hot" is about all we need, and "warm" is really just "fill as fast as possible" often, since it opens both hoses.
        bzxcvbn 4y ago
        The water comes out 60+°C out of your faucets?
  - TwoHeadedBeast 4y ago
    Yes, typically 30, 40, 50, 60 and 90.
  - plorkyeran 4y ago
    My apartment's washing machines don't even have hot/warm/cold. It has "bright colors", "colors", and "whites", which _hopefully_ correspond to three different temperatures, and then things like "delicates" where the temperature is a surprise (I hope it's cold?).
  - masklinn 4y ago
    > My US market washing machine has settings for "hot", "warm", and "cold" What the hell? That’s barbaric. > Do (eg) European washing machines instead typically have you set wash temp to an arbitrary number of °C? Not arbitrary except possibly on high-end machines but even entry-level stuff have temp settings for the usual stuff: cold (whatever’s out the tap), 30, 40, 60, 90.
    - robonerd 4y ago
      How do you ever decide whether a load of laundry needs 30 or 40? Do you sum up all the laundry labels on each item of clothing then take the average? Personally, I leave my machine set to hot for everything. Hot water is what I use for washing in my dish washer, in my sink, in my shower.. hot water is for washing. That's how I see it.
      - masklinn 4y ago
        > How do you ever decide whether a load of laundry needs 30 or 40? Do you sum up all the laundry labels on each item of clothing then take the average? If you have enough laundry I expect you try to put stuff with similar requirements together in the same way you segregate whites and colors. Though usually unless your laundry is quite dirty you'd go with 30 standard and shove everything in there, at 30 color shouldn't even be too much of a factor. In all honesty I'm not quite sure why both are present, I think it's because older generations believed 30 would not be enough (as it's "human range" water), so 30 or cold would only be for the clothes which can't go any higher and 40 was the baseline.

masklinn 4y ago

> Also, while I can feel with my hand whether water is "cold," "warm," or "hot." I honestly have no idea what the actual temperature of the water in my washer is in degrees Celsius. The explicit temperatures are for machine washing, don't you just... set the washing temperature to whatever you want? If you're washing by hand, it's unlikely that you're washing above 40C, and that's if you like hurting yourself: at 50C (120F) serious burns take about 10mn, at 60C (140F) it's around 3 seconds.

jrochkind1 4y ago
My US market washing machine has settings for "hot", "warm", and "cold", but if there's a way to set temperature to a number, it is not intuitive and I am not aware of it (it may exist this is a 'digital' machine!). If it did have a way to set a wash temp to an arbitrary number, it would presumably be in F not C! I think this is typical for US washing machines? Do (eg) European washing machines instead typically have you set wash temp to an arbitrary number of °C?
- cameronh90 4y ago
  All washing machines I've used in the UK have a temperature selector dial. They usually offer a number of presets such as 30c, 40c, 60c and 90c.
  - jrochkind1 4y ago
    Interesting! I don't believe that's how USA washing machines work, they usually just say "hot", "warm", and "cold". Apparently USAians are washing machine philistines who don't need more than three temperatures and don't know what they are? Anyway, this shows another challenge in these icons, the international diversity of washing techniques and technology. (Edit: I found one possible answer online -- Euro washing machines may actually have water heaters built in, while American washing macchines may just use the existing house "hot water supply". So Euro machines can heat to desired temp, while American ones just have to take what they get! Why THAT was done that way, I don't know, difference in hot water heating technology choices? Euro houses don't usually have a central "hot water tank" like US has? Why THAT is would be yet another question...).
    - el-salvador 4y ago
      In Latin America our home washing machines are usually connected to ‘cold’ water only. Except in homes with separate cold/hot water pipes.
      - masklinn 4y ago
        It's the same in europe. I know semi-professional or professional dishwashers are sometimes connected to both hot and cold inputs, not sure whether that is the case for washing machines though I wouldn't be shocked.
    - bombcar 4y ago
      I suspect washers with heaters come from places that original had cold water only. The reality is we are overthinking it - "cold/warm/hot" is about all we need, and "warm" is really just "fill as fast as possible" often, since it opens both hoses.
      - bzxcvbn 4y ago
        The water comes out 60+°C out of your faucets?
- TwoHeadedBeast 4y ago
  Yes, typically 30, 40, 50, 60 and 90.
- plorkyeran 4y ago
  My apartment's washing machines don't even have hot/warm/cold. It has "bright colors", "colors", and "whites", which _hopefully_ correspond to three different temperatures, and then things like "delicates" where the temperature is a surprise (I hope it's cold?).
- masklinn 4y ago
  > My US market washing machine has settings for "hot", "warm", and "cold" What the hell? That’s barbaric. > Do (eg) European washing machines instead typically have you set wash temp to an arbitrary number of °C? Not arbitrary except possibly on high-end machines but even entry-level stuff have temp settings for the usual stuff: cold (whatever’s out the tap), 30, 40, 60, 90.
  - robonerd 4y ago
    How do you ever decide whether a load of laundry needs 30 or 40? Do you sum up all the laundry labels on each item of clothing then take the average? Personally, I leave my machine set to hot for everything. Hot water is what I use for washing in my dish washer, in my sink, in my shower.. hot water is for washing. That's how I see it.
    - masklinn 4y ago
      > How do you ever decide whether a load of laundry needs 30 or 40? Do you sum up all the laundry labels on each item of clothing then take the average? If you have enough laundry I expect you try to put stuff with similar requirements together in the same way you segregate whites and colors. Though usually unless your laundry is quite dirty you'd go with 30 standard and shove everything in there, at 30 color shouldn't even be too much of a factor. In all honesty I'm not quite sure why both are present, I think it's because older generations believed 30 would not be enough (as it's "human range" water), so 30 or cold would only be for the clothes which can't go any higher and 40 was the baseline.