[jrochkind1]

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?

[masklinn]

> 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]

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]

> 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.

[cameronh90]

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]

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...).

[masklinn]

> 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!

Ah so it’s the same deal as the dishwashers, I should have figured.

> Euro houses don't usually have a central "hot water tank" like US has? Why THAT is would be yet another question...).

Commonly not, although it does absolutely exist water is frequently heated up on-demand.

However a better reason might be the same as the kettle thing: the US being on 120V, so getting hot water out the furnace or hot water tank is waaay faster than heating it up on the spot.

[jrochkind1]

> might be the same as the kettle thing: the US being on 120V,

I think you could be right about washing machines/dishwashers, but as far as electric kettles... even at US 120V, an electric kettle is WAY faster at heating water to boiling than even my fairly powerful (bigger than traditional burner) gas range. (Not to mention much more energy-efficient).

I have no idea why electric kettles aren't more popular in the US.

But I never thought about the 110V/230V thing with regard to kettles. I guess even though electric kettles in the US are faster than the stovetop, they still aren't as fast as everywhere else with 230V? Maybe "faster but not faster enough" is why people still heat water on a stovetop here? I don't know!

[roelschroeven]

Technology Connections recently had a video about the subject: "Why don't Americans use electric kettles?" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yMMTVVJI4c).

His main conclusion: Americans have less use for kettles since they don't drink tea (as much).

He also observes that electric kettles turn out to be faster and more efficient than other means of heating water for other purposes that are not obvious at first sight, as you also mention.

Not all European electric kettles are faster than American ones BTW. Mine is 1200 W (I think) which is in the range of what American ones can deliver. There are more powerful models available too of course.

[plorkyeran]

Heating water on a stovetop isn't actually particularly common. We don't have electric kettles because we have coffee makers instead.

[jrochkind1]

Most people that I know who make tea make it by heating water on the stovetop, and don't realize or don't care how much better an electric kettle could be; but of course you're right that coffee is much more popular than tea here, and perhaps that's why electric kettles aren't more well-known as superior for heating water.

I do not think it's because of 110V though! Even a 110V electric kettle is far faster than stovetop.

[robonerd]

> the US being on 120V

Driers, and similar high power appliances, don't use a single 120V phase. They use two phrases, 180 degrees apart in normal residential houses and 120 degrees apart in apartment buildings. Any American clothing dryer I've ever seen has 240V (slightly less in apartment buildings.)

[bombcar]

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]

The water comes out 60+°C out of your faucets?

[jrochkind1]

Shocking as it will be to you -- I'm just realizing that this differs between US and rest of world -- a home washing machine in the US can only go as hot as what comes out of the faucets. It cannot wash at 90C water, and likely can't even do 60C water. It can only do as hot as the "hot" tap water, which depends on what the hot water heat is set at, which is usually somewhere between 120F (49C) and 140F (60C).

[bombcar]

Do people really boil clothes? Obviously that's not a thing in the US, but I could see it being useful for whites, perhaps.

[bombcar]

It could, but there's a temperature control valve limiting it to 115° or 120°, I forget which.

If I wanted to bother I could run the "raw" hot water to the washer to get 140° IIRC.

[el-salvador]

In Latin America our home washing machines are usually connected to ‘cold’ water only. Except in homes with separate cold/hot water pipes.

[masklinn]

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.

[plorkyeran]

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?).

[TwoHeadedBeast]

Yes, typically 30, 40, 50, 60 and 90.