They've invented stupid names for the various cycles that heat so you can't figure them out. For example, my 6-year-old Duet 9400 has two cycles that boost to 127F and one that boosts to 157F. The hottest one is called "sanitary". The one I recall of the others is called "whitest whites". The manual lists NO actual temperatures. Vendor/salespeople/manager had no idea. I had to call the mfgr and badger them in order to learn.

IMHO, there are three big things to consider: 1) learning what the actual temperatures are 2) being willing to wait for the boost 3) being able to adjust dwell-time in the cycle (Many machines simply reach the target temp and then immediately progress to rinse. When you reach target temp., you will want to be able to stay there for 10-20 min. so the detergent can do its work.)

What do "hot"/"warm"/"cold" mean? I'll bet you'll have to call every individual mfgr. to find out. There is no "typical". They all do whatever they want.....and don't want to tell you what that is. I suspect 150 will be easy. 170+ will severely limit your choices.

Clearly, they want you to become involved with their euphemisms and child-level manuals. They do not want to give you actual meaningful information. You'll have to work for that.

Probably should fess up my own opinions on the topic. I think temperatures in the machine during the cycle should be....... "hot" should be 120F+; "warm" should be 100-105F; "cold" anything below that but always above 65-70F.

In decades past, "hot" was anything too hot to hold your hand in....which was whatever you set you water heater thermostat at...what people used to describe as "tap hot"; "warm" was bath/shower temp; "cold" was too cold to shower in....what people used to describe as "tap cold".

@ kaismom

On my Miele W4842 I have the following settings

• No Heat = tap cold
• Cold = 85F
• Warm = 105F
• Very Warm = 120F
• Hot = 140F
• Sanitary = 158F

Click on the below link to see a guide to ASTM care symbols that you may find on your clothes and fabrics. This should help you identify what temps your garments need.

ASTM Care Guide

The Miele's temperature profile is designed to match the ASTM temperature labels, which should make it easy to follow the label care instructions using terms such as cold, warm, hot, etc.

kaismom asks: "What is the typical temperature for hot/warm/cold in a washer with an internal heater? Most washers do not give that spec."

The manual for our recently purchased Samsung WF419 states,
"The temperature range for Hot is 105-125�F(41-52�C), for Warm 85-105�F(29-41�C) and for Cold 60-85�F(16-29�C)."

What may show up as weird symbols on your screen are ASCII-248, the degrees symbol.

Bless their hearts for putting anything in the manual.

But 20 degree ranges? I wouldn't even call those "specifications". Seems to me they've told you not much more than nothing.

Within those specs, IMHO, 125 is "hot" but 105 certainly isn't. 105 is "warm" but 85 certainly isn't. I'll go with 85 for cold, but 60 is too cold.

Typically, all true European washers have the ability to select a specific temperature. I have a Whirlpool Duet - but the version made FOR (and in) Germany. Available temps are:

- 68F
- 86F
- 104F
- 140F
- 203F

Here is a link that might be useful: Quick overview

My machine's working fine so I can wait but if I could buy a machine today that allowed me to actually select wash/rinse temps from tap-cold to 160 or so manually, I'd go shopping this afternoon.

My older (240v) Miele does indeed have the temperatures marked right on the dial. 105ð, 120ð, etc. up to 190ðF. You can connect to a cold water intake only if you want, since the 240 volt internal heater is fast and powerful.

The labeling on American-market washers with vague terms like "warm" and "hot" is a vestige from decades of top-load machines with no internal water heating, and usually not even a thermostat. "Hot" meant only the hot water feed was drawn from an often distant hot water heater tank, "cold" was straight from the water utility, and "warm" turned on both taps. The actual temperature was always a crapshoot, depending on outdoor weather, how far away the water heater tank was, and what temperature the external water heater was set at. Many clothing items sold in the US have labels that say "machine wash warm" or some such, rather (or in addition to) the actual temperatures, which are usually in Celsius.

Off topic, but anyone having trouble getting the degree symbol to come out properly once they've submitted their post, instead of using any keyboard commands or ascii characters, use the html version, literally type the bolded text ° and it will come out as ð

Well ha-ha, it worked for me the other day and today it is ignoring me. :) Darn degree symbol! ð ð ð Blah! ;)

And a correction (geez I sure you wish you could edit posts here!), I *thought* it worked for me the other day, but I was wrong.

Carry on with your scheduled topic now, sorry for posting useless info.... :)

alt-keyboard entry of the degree symbol worked in the past but no longer. I work around it by stating temps as 120F or 50C or whatever, without the degree symbol.

asolo comments: "Bless their hearts for putting anything in the manual. But 20 degree ranges? I wouldn't even call those 'specifications'. Seems to me they've told you not much more than nothing."

The Samsung WF419 manual may be even cagier than you infer. The data that I quoted in my earlier post is an endnote of an appendix, bearing the header Fabric Care Chart, that provides expanded explanations of the standard (and very cryptic) clothing care symbols that may appear on labels in your clothing. The manual IMPLIES (by the fact that it includes the explanations) that Samsung's own designations of Hot, Warm, and Cold conform to the meanings assigned to them by the standard clothing care symbols, but the manual does not go so far as actually to STATE that. Samsung may have had no role at all in the drafting of the text, but may instead have cut-and-pasted a generic hand-out from a clothing manufacturers' association.

Another statement in the manual (not in an appendix) says that the user's hot water heater should be set so that it can deliver 120-degree F. water to the washer. Putting together the 120-degree statement with the appendix's explanation of the meaning of Hot, I ASSUME that Hot in the WF419, which has an on-board heater, means at least 120 degrees F. -- but that is only my assumption.

Here is a link that might be useful: Here is the .pdf version of the Samsung manual

Yes, the W4842 manual clearly identifies the temperatures (in Celsius) of the various modes: No Heat, Cold, Warm, Very Warm, Hot and Sanitize. No matter which temp mode I select, I always know what actual temperature I will be getting.

That's a wonderful feature. Wish they all had it -- in particular, I wish mine had it. I wouldn't even begrudge them the Celsius specs. if I could just punch in what I wanted.

I went digging. Bosch gives temperatures in F in their manual. Miele larger capacity also give water temp. Non of the American models give temp in the manual that I can find.

I got a bad case of "gi'me" (give me this and give me that!) I really want a new W/D. My 11 year old Asko is going strong and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound at 205F max wash temp. I should just stop reading GW so I don't get the "gi'mes".

I don't NEED to spend $2000 to 4000 on a set of new washer when I have a set that works better than 90% of the machines out there! I just want the extra capacity! Ugh!

BTW, I won't even try to type in a degree symbol. that seems way beyond my keboard skills.

@ kaismom

I feel you. My previous machine was a wonderful Asko W6761 w/ matching dryer. What a pleasure to use. All functions available in all wash modes, 4 programmable buttons where you can save your favorite wash parameters (my Miele has nothing like this), and temps up to 205F. The only negative was the 5 kg capacity. It was getting to the point where I couldn't wash a complete set of king-size sheets, pillow cases and duvet at one time.

So I sold my Asko set and got a Miele W4842. I love the large capacity - it fits about double the Asko - but I do miss the programming flexibility of the Asko. The larger capacity was worth it for me.

Argh....this is just more evidence my washer is unsuitable. The hottest my hot water will get is 105*F, so basically... my hot is warm and my warm is cold and my cold is colder and my tap is freezing. LOL

The Sanitize cycle on my Miele does an incredible job. It heats to 158F - not nearly as hot as a Euro machine - but cleans as well as anything I've seen. I had a load of kitchen towels stained with curry, turmeric and various other east asian treats! Without any pre-treating, they came out absolutely spotless and gleaming white. This machine makes great use of what it has.

Americans are stubborn and will not put exact temperature because their washers are never at exact temperatures in particularly that some of teem use tap hot water as well which is never this same. Most developed countries in the world can select exact temperature ( washer has a thermostat to adjust it).

As for degree symbol - what works in Word not necessarily has to work on the website.