Hot or Not?

Seth Brundle

Just wondering, most bike clothing manufacturers recommend washing your gear at 30°. However, I've found that washing them at this temperature tends to leave them with odours and I wash them at 40° if I want them to be odourless.

What temperature do you wash your gear at or if you wash them at 30° what powder/detergent do you use to ensure they smell clean?

cletus

I wash all my cycling gear at 30°, I use a non bio pod, usually whatever Lidl/Aldi brand is cheap.

No issues with either the temp or the cleaning product

The Headwind

Wash everything at 30 degrees using Persil non bio. No problems with odours.

dahat

Fairy non bio in a 20min fast wash, no issues across various brands over the years.

Wishbone Ash

40 degree for everything. Haven't a clue what brand of detergent (whatever Mrs WA buys).

I agree with the OP - 30 degrees just doesn't cut it.

(BTW - lads how did you get the little 'degree' symbol? Don't see it on the keyboard)

° = Alt + 0176 , don't ask how many of those code I know !!!!!

Seth Brundle

BTW - lads how did you get the little 'degree' symbol? Don't see it on the keyboard

I googled it and then copy/paste as I was on my laptop (it is on my android phone's keyboard)

Luxman

40 for me, in the winter the sh*t splatters don't budge at 30

CramCycle

I always do 30 but there are occasions where the smell doesn't budge but it's rare.

secman

Wouldn't have a clue. Just checked with OH, 40° as 30° wouldn't get dirt out and no softeners used.

I have to load the machine though, couldn't bear to handle smelly stinking cycling gear 😊

wheelo01

It's a 30° Here with a Daz powder/pod dependent on whatever we are using at that time. I tend to air dry for a couple of hours to allow the sweat dry out of my gear before rolling it into the bag I use to get a load together. (about 4 or 5 kits to a load).

I am a sweaty type, but never have any problems with a 30° wash, though with winter splashes up the back, I tend to wipe them immediately I come home.

No softeners - It apparently ruins the wicking qualities of the gear.

saccades

Use Halo sports wash.

I get similar.

dastardly00

I wash at 30°C with a non-bio detergent and Napisan

https://shop.supervalu.ie/shopping/household-cleaning-non-bio-napisan-disinfectant-detergent-800-g-/p-1308957000

Wishbone Ash

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119997293#Comment_119997293

You load the machine with your gear but herself has to switch it on? Sounds like the demarcation in British Leyland in the '70's!

(My brother is a heavy duty fitter and used to service large machinery in factories. He could take the machines apart, rebuild them, make replacement parts etc. but if he switched them on/off, there'd be a strike. He wasn't 'qualified' to press the 'On/Off' button.)

secman

I have an exemplary record.. .never caused 1 strike in almost 43 years of marriage 😉

Seth Brundle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119998205#Comment_119998205

So you do what you're told!

I see the pods mentioned, last I used them........ ok it was a few years ago but those did not dissolve properly in a 30° wash. Either user error or they improved them for a cold wash since so many mention them now.

The smell is usually down to bacteria aint it?, but I find especially with base layers it's down to the % mix of materials too. Like I could leave 2 in the basket for washing and only one would proper stink from the same effort.

Also does the stuff get left wet in a basket after washing as opposed to being hung out to dry. Where is it dried? Does line drying outside in the sun with it's UV rays kill the smell/bacterial? Used to find stuff I'd dry inside on a horse could have a sour smell to it

magicbastarder

i suspect it's very much down to the detergent as to how well it can wash at 30C; also i suspect body chemistry plays a minor part (or diet - maybe whether you've been chowing down on garlic too!)

we usually wash at 30, but use bio - my wife (who, i'm sorry to be a gender stereotype) who knows more about these things than me reckons you need bio for that; and our current machine has a longer wash than the last one which makes it more effective. 30 wouldn't be enough to remove stains though.

here's a malcolm gladwell podcast on the topic, for those really interested:

https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/revisionist-history/laundry-done-right

magicbastarder

Used to find stuff I'd dry inside on a horse could have a sour smell to it

oh, i remember once being on a work trip to germany with a freshly washed pair of trousers on, and i had to avoid moving in the meeting room; because if i moved, i got this awful sickly sour smell. when i got home, i found a load of soggy lint had caught up in a fold in the rubber gasket around the door, and was a bit whiffy, so cleaned that out and stuck the machine on a boil wash and the problem didn't recur for another six months or a year. we just had to be careful checking the gasket every few months from then on.

beggars_bush

I don't notice any smell of clothes after a quick wash or 30C wash

the missus always does.

iwillhtfu

Fire them all into the typical wash, think it's 60° normal detergent/softener. 30° would clean sweet fa off winter kit.

They've been known to go into the tumble dryer from time to time also 😱😂😂 no time for that softly softly approach.

Alun

Not a cyclist but an avid hillwalker and my wife runs and can recommend adding this stuff to the fabric softener drawer ...

https://www.dettol.co.uk/household-disinfection/laundry/dettol-laundry-cleanser-active-1500-ml/

cletus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119999452#Comment_119999452

Jaysus, I'd just about do towels in a 60° wash 😂

Might your typical wash be 40°?

iwillhtfu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119999621#Comment_119999621

Fairly sure it's 60° possibly 50° definitely not 40° but definitely #7 on the dial😂 I think it's clung on since the rugrats were small, everything was boil washed.

cletus

😂😂😂😂

Macy0161

20 degree with aldi or lidl non-bio gel or liquid in our house. Haven't really had issue with odours with cycling gear. Running and Football tops occasionally have to have a (surf liquid) bio wash (at 20 degrees) too. They go through again, due to sensitive skin issues in the house rather than remaining odour!

The dettol stuff mentioned didn't work for us. Only a bio, but still at the low temp.

Laundry is my job in the household, just as a contrary to some of the old velo's above!

ARX

Halo Sports Wash at 30 degrees.

I smell divine.

CramCycle

I do all the washing in my house, it's not rocket science. 30 degrees covers 99.9% of things, the brand of washing powder or pods can make a difference.

Never over pack it, this is the rookie mistake.

Large bottle small glass

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120000333#Comment_120000333

The real rookie mistake is not drying it quickly enough and properly. Bacteria love the damp.

An occasional very hot empty wash is the Hoover version of an Italian tune up

magicbastarder

just ranting about a bugbear of mine - that ariel ad - 'we're with national geographic here in the arctic to study the effect of temperature on washing your clothes' boils my piss.

'we went to the arctic to learn something that has nothing to do with the arctic'. plus it's a sign of how standards have slipped at NG since murdoch bought it.

CramCycle

Commenting on boards via National Geographic:

eeeee

30° in a 15 min wash, fairy non bio for me. I always wash my within an hour of reading it off. That helps. Spray off vinegar on a stubborn smelly bit helps.

I use the dettol stuff for sheets and towels in a 60° wash, that's only once a week.

Drum clean every few months!

crosstownk

I wash my kit at 30°C using Persil non-bio liquid. I also reduce the spin to 800rpm. Washing line or clothes horse to dry fully. I've been doing it for years and no issues with odours or colour fade. Like eeeee, I put them in the machine soon enough after a spin rather than leaving them lying around to fester.