Disinfection cycles on Miele Professional washers, such as Larsi's, perform a main wash for:

15 minutes at 185°F alone

- or -

10 minutes at 158°F or 20 minutes at 140°F or 20 minutes at 104°F with a disinfecting detergent added.

I also read about the sanitizing ability of cold-water cycles. The idea is that the germs become detached from the garments and are then flushed down the drain with plenty of water. Still alive, but not on your clothes. I'd still prefer hot water, though.

NSF Document on Allergen Removal

Yes Miele has such fabulous temperature control! I wouldn't put a whole lot Into the notion cold water flushes the bacteria from the clothes to the drain. Whomever wrote that piece needs a course or two in Micro Biology. ;-)

I use Allergen and Sanitation cycles when I'm cleaning my bedding after the cats puke on it. Maybe it just makes me feel better but that's a reassurance I can live with. Used it for at least one load a week when my MIL lived with us. Nothing could be laundered with her stuff or I'd gag.

If I'm worried about something in laundry, as I usually am when my husband returns from trips, I use chemical sanitation. It's the safer option.

MizLizzie-Ha! My gosh that is the funniest thing I have read for awhile!

HAHAHAHAHA...I just lost 10 pounds laughing.. omg so funny Lizzie

MizLizzie - I completely understand! He has giant ziplock bags to put his laundry in for the return trip, sorted by color and they go from the garage directly to the washer. Dh has been immunized for every disease known to man because of his travels. We have not. I'm paranoid about everything from bedbugs to SARS. Lol.

The Swiss brands are also nice for allergen removal. V ZUG's Anti Dust Mite option extends the Cotton cycle by over an hour, adding two extra rinses, adding two extra inches of water to each rinse and maintaining the selected temp (must be either 140, 158 or 203°F) for an hour during the wash. Unfortunately, they are outrageously expensive for residential washers.

While we are focused here on laundry disinfection, I routinely go over the sink grid, door knobs and handles, appliance handles, counters, computer keyboards, telephones, the TV remotes, light switches, cabinet knobs and handles, the kitchen and bathroom sink handles and toilet handles (hello?), and card door handles with alcohol.

When I go to the gas station I either wear washable gloves when I use the filler thingy or I immediately use hand sanitizer which I keep in the car.

Call me whatever you like. It's not only laundry. All those surfaces need a wipe down with alcohol regularly. Might be luck, and knock wood it continues but we haven't had winter illnesses for several years now. The alcohol certainly helps and can't hurt.

Re underwear. Seriously. That needs its own load. And with apologies to Joel H. and the need for expediency while working, the idea of combining underwear with kitchen towels makes me sick. Bleach or no bleach. I've seen that her before and I think it's a terrible practice.

Just to say ... you all believe that *not* washing underwear with kitchen linens is a sure-fire way to avoid "underwear contamination residue" in the washer (and dryer)? LOL. Washing machines per typical usage habits are loaded with bacteria. LCB is your friend in that regard.

Google Search

Y'all are killing me. I have 4 kids (3 boys) within 5 years of each other, and a husband that works in a hospital. When the kids get sick, they want to lay in my bed. We use the same computer keyboard, and lets not mention the kids' underwear. I am under no illusions about the germ factor in my house. I guess when the killer flu hits, I will just pray it takes us quickly.

I am a little annoyed however, that our hot water temps in our appliances are so dumbed down. And that short of measuring the water temps with our laser thermometers, we are in the dark about proper sanitation of our clothes and dishes. I am grateful for all of the information that everyone has shared (especially pawprint who started the thread). I truly wish we could make this thread permanent. Our own public health announcement! Thank you everyone.

rococogurl-- I hear what your are saying about underwear with kitchen towels.. lol. Trust me, I would never be doing that at my own house! However, I have a limited time to clean the house, and wash & dry a weeks worth of laundry at the house I clean. I have to minimize loads, against my better judgement. I do run on Sanitize, use an Oxy booster, and dry on high heat to try and make myself feel ok about doing it. LOL. The owner of the house, however, washes everything on warm, never uses bleach, and does mixed loads a lot. She is always baffled how clean and white her laundry is when I do it.

Sharon Stone said we can save on laundry worries by going commando.

Also - regarding hot water in new washing machines. It's written 3 times in my new washer manual the water will not be as hot as my previous machine. Craziness.

I have to agree with the above comment...I don't care if its white underwear or black ...underwear gets washed alone, I've seen a lot of folks over on AW that wash underwear with dish towels..IMO to put it mildly its Unacceptable...on the other hand unless your washing that load of underwear with Chlorine Bleach, your next load will receive the underwear germs.

Dadoes is for sure correct, your washer and dryer are hanging onto germs from everything, including underwear germs. Regular use of Chlorine Bleach can keep the count down. You all know I'm not a regular user of Chlorine, I'm not against its usage, its a great product, but it has a set of rules that need followed if you want your clothing to last. I also do not believe for a second that we need to worry so much about everything being disinfected with every load we do. Hell if this was the case most people would be dead from their own bacteria. I do think its a good idea to do a clean wash cycle regularly on your machine with chlorine and use proper temps and detergent expecially on bedding do to dust mites. But as far as disinfecting regular laundry, I don't see the sense, unless you have a nasty bacteria or viral illness in the house.

Paw..my washer is a true tap hot fill, but even at 128 f that doesn't fly with me on bedding and underwear...which is why I use my soup pots. I like to get the temp up above 140 and this does the job. However that's just my way of doing it, it can't be done on a lot of machines, nor is it a safe practice..lol.

@pink- that's an ole wife's tale about bleach wreaking the fabric. What really weakens fabric is the high temperatures they are washed at., and incomplete rinsing. There are studies that have disproven that bleach nonsense.

http://70.88.161.72/ifi/BULLETIN/SLP/Slp32.pdf

Sin..I've worded myself wrong..bleach ruins fabrics if not rinsed out properly..I know that by using it at the proper dose st the correct time is safe..but if you still smell when the wash is done its not properly rinsed and will do its damage. This is what I ment by improper usage...

@Joel H -- Of course. It's work based on time. I totally understand, as mentioned.

I guess I should get one of these wall-mounted Electrolux mini washers or a tiny portable camping washer... cause ain't no way that I would run a Euro let alone my massive washer for just underwear. Maybe if I was washing for an entire sports team... but we just generate 14 pieces of underwear a week. My "hot white" loads are most definitely mixed and, despite that, I still have a top notch crotch. *haha*

Proper use if Chlorine Bleach means adding it the last 6 minutes or so of the wash cycle and rinsing until you no longer smell it..under these procedures the product is completely safe on many fabrics....its the rinsing thats most important.

Alex...its just the point for me..lol..call it OCD or whatever..but unless chlorine bleach is used on the underwear it makes no difference if they are washed alone or with another load...and besides unless your carrying some serious contaigous condition..there's no worries...we all have bacteria..its perfectly safe to wash your underwear with other laundry. Most people do.

I can see it now. Cooking dinner & boiling underwear at the same time!

Paw, is that your Sunday dinner cooking? Looks delish, better stir the under gutchies, and hey if you add a sprinkle of Meat Tenderizerit will remove stains LOL

for those of you that dont know meat tenderizer is enzymes. Lol

I wouldn't mind having one of these

Very valid points concerning personal under garments. There are so many types, colors, and fabrics for both male and female. Total disinfection would be a challenge. Aseptically clean is about as good as you can hope for. Cotton T,s and undies do shrink at high temps, colors fade, elastic breaks down, nylon, poly blends, spandex really should never be washed at high temps. Chlorine would be out of the question for most of those fabrics, so a quanitary disinfectant must be used if disinfection is your goal. Best practice is wash your under garments first, followed by a load that requires Hot water and Bleach. It at least prevents or lessens cross contamination.

I have used Clorox Ultimate Care Bleach for years. Says it is safe to pour directly on fabrics.

Problem with Clorox Ultimate Care is although it may be strong enough to Whiten it doesn't have a high enough % of Hypochlorite to disinfect..I think it needs to be at 8.25% to disinfect.

I use Clorox Regular if I'm using it to disinfect..and once in awhile if I need to whiten something that has tattle tale grey I use chlorine bleach, this isn't very often since I have great luck with sodium percarbonate, but that requires soaking, sometimes I'm strapped for time and take the quicker route..there's no doubt Chlorine Bleach will whiten faster than sodium percarbonate.

Right. Check the labels, some LCB products state that they don't disinfect.

Our undies are sorted only by color. No one has come close to dying yet. PH and temperature fluctuations take care of a lot of laundry crud. I also only dry towels on high heat. Gasp! I have 3 kids, 3 dogs, eat a plant based diet and spent most of my career auditing clinics. Diet alone is a likely exposure source for ecoli. PH and temperature fluctuations take care of a lot of laundry crud. The rest I'm not concerned with. Rarely are any of us sick. Maybe it's that the constant exposure to horrific laundry germs has made us super human. Lol

No worries about "OCD", Cheryl. I've had times, where I got out the bleach and one of these pump spray bottles and f'ing doused the entire shower from top to bottom in bleach/water and then continued to bleach bed linen and towels that had been used by... that person.

Up until our last vacation, my girlfriend and I would always have a bottle of bleach or Lysol in our luggage and disinfect all surfaces before we'd use the hotel bathroom.

Lol. My husband carries colloidal silver wipes for hotel rooms.

Works also to wipe out vampires...

I thought I was the only one that bring disinfectants when traveling LOL!!!

I just can't cope with filth! I mean im not as bad as Joan Crawford in Mommy Dearest, but I'm much more uptight about germs and filth then my husband.... Which drives me a little nutty sometimes ;)

I travel with a Lysol spray bottle. LOL.

I always have alcohol wipey packets and hand sanitizer in my purse..like Roc alcohol is cheaper and works great..at home I use bottled alcohol and paper towels.

I travel with sanitizing wipes. Everything gets a wipe down before use. I also take pix and show them to the management if the room needs additional cleaning. These days, traveling can creep you out.

I bleach it, Lysol it, Clorox wipe it whatever it takes-DIE! When I was my hands I use soap and my hand sanitizer and a clean (bleached) white washcloth every single time. Seems reasonable.

Lol Jean. I go thru tons of hand towels a day. Timmy won't touch a towel if someone else touched it. I tried telling him hands were washed and the towel dried off clean hands but makes no difference to him..he's so much like me lol.

My husband always tells me he washes his hands but when I check the washcloth is dirty. Guess it comes off one way or another-but I don't like how he does it. Not clean to me. Ha ha-good for Timmy that's a smart kid!

Warning - the following may shock you and cause nightmares. Not for the faint-hearted.

Here's my "hot whites" load: large towels (used one week), hand towels (used three days used), the dog's towel (mud stains), underwear, kitchen clothes, dish towels, socks, a fitted sheet and (do you really want to read on?) the rinsed floor mop head. This is filled the machine to about 60% of its capacity.

The cycle started with a cold pretreat phase, then heated to body temp for the enzymes to work and then up to 140F for best oxy bleach activity. Including three rinses, the cycle's estimated duration was 2:28 hrs. - although I didn't time the cycle as I was busy with other stuff. After that, everything but was tumble dried (just not the mop head) and clean, clean, clean.

And that's how we do it whirlpool trainee. I applaud your bravery :)

I'm pretty damn sure I just heard Roc hit the floor. ROFL...Alex. ..its just your stuff??

Hubs just got done bytchin at me why I need to wash towels daily..he won't let me wash his except every 3or4 days..he says he doesn't care to hear what I say about it and he happens to like his own bacteria that he's 67 and him and his bacteria have gotton along very well all these years.

Alex, I'm sure as long as your bath towel dries quickly after using it that its fine. even the mop head for rinsing I can see...BUT the dogs towel LOL. I'm ignoring the underwear in this load....do your bed sheets not get fuzzies from the towels? Oh my...I have to digest this ............Alex, this works for you so who am I to complain. One good thing is you don't dry the mop heads LOL.

I can't do that if I wanted to..my poor mom would hunt me.haha. I'm joking with you Alex..this works for you, and unless we come down with some deadly exotic illness...its all good.

Um, no. I have never seen fuzz on sheets. It had never even occurred to me that the towels could "fuzz up" the sheet before you said it. But... these towels have been washed many times; they no longer give off lint.

During the colder months (which are many in Germany), I just throw the large body towels over the radiators and they dry in 20 minutes. The hand towels gets hung over the radiator several times a day. Only during exeptionally hot and humid periods in the summer, will the hand towel sometimes get a slight musty smell here in A/C-free Germany. It then gets changed immediately and placed outside in the direct sun to "fry and dry".

The dog towel... well... it's just mud from Bella's little feet. So, whatever.

I have never, ever gotten sick from my clothes or dishes dried with my towels - so why fix what ain't broke (for me). The only time is regularly get sick is when everyone around me is sneezing or coughing, but no amount of hand sanitizer that I carry around can help me with that. I wish we were a little more like in Japan, where people wear face masks when they're sick. But do that here and people will look at you as if you had some sort of contagious zombie disease. °o°

Lol

Sorry Alex I didn't mean fuzz I ment piling. But ya this works for you so why change it.

Front load washing machines always get moldy quickly. no allergen or sanitize setting fixes that!

@Meg

I believe proper use of front loaders is key to preventing mold growth.

Proper detergent (power), leaving door open for at least 24 hours after use, wiping down door and gasket and additives drawer when done.

Regular use of bleach or bleach in a monthly cleaning cycle and occasional high temperature washes helps kill microbes

Bleach doesn't get rid of mold! And i do all of that but underneath the rubber gasket gets disgusting and it is physically impossible to clean.

@Meg,

The gunk you're suffering is due to other bad laundry habits. I'm guessing everything in cold water in the shortest available wash time, with a scant dose of budget-brand liquid detergent and bunches of scent beads added to cover the stench of the mold (and other residue)? Please correct which of my assumptions are wrong. Thanks.