By Zach Pozniak, VP of Operations at Jeeves of Belgravia New York and fourth-generation dry cleaner · @jeeves_ny
Last reviewed October 2026 · based on my cold-water videos and my fading and soaking tests, 2023 to 2025
Quick answer: Tap cold is water straight from your pipes, with no hot water mixed in, so its temperature depends on where you live and the time of year. In winter it can be freezing. The regular cold setting is warmer than most people expect, at around 30°C (roughly 85°F), because the washer mixes in some hot water. Use cold for most loads, and save tap cold for lightly worn clothes and delicates that don't need a deep clean.
Tap cold means the washer fills with water straight from the faucet, with no temperature control. Nothing is heated or blended in, so the temperature swings with your location and the season, and in winter tap cold can be freezing.
In laundry, cold water isn't that cold. On most washers the cold setting is about 30°C, or roughly 85°F, which is about what a heated swimming pool feels like. The machine gets there by mixing a bit of hot water in.
For reference, warm is about 40°C (104°F) and hot is about 50°C (122°F). I gave those three numbers in an explainer on laundry water temperatures, and ended it by pointing out that cold water is different from tap cold.
| Setting | Roughly |
|---|---|
| Tap cold | Whatever comes out of your pipes. Varies with location and season, and can be freezing in winter |
| Cold | About 30°C (roughly 85°F), with some hot water mixed in |
| Warm | About 40°C (104°F) |
| Hot | About 50°C (122°F) |
Use cold for most loads. It's energy efficient and still gets clothes clean. Most clothes aren't as dirty as people think, and most large detergent brands have already reformulated their products to work in cold water.
Use tap cold for lightly worn garments and delicates that don't need a deep clean. Tap cold is great for energy savings, but since it swings with your location and the season, it isn't always ideal for cleaning. For more on gentle loads, see the guide to washing delicates.
Move up to warm or hot for stained or stinky loads and for the things that touch your skin most, like sheets, towels and undergarments, which carry the most body oil. My rule is to only use hot water for those items, or when you want to whiten, brighten or sanitize. I think of hot water like power washing your clothes, because it gives the deepest clean and is also the hardest on fabric.
Some laundry products work far better with warmth, and oxygen bleach is the clearest example. When I soaked stained swatches in oxygen bleach, the hot-water soak removed 40.7% of the stain, against 23.6% in tap cold, roughly half as effective. That's why oxygen bleach soaks should use hot water (more in my oxygen bleach rankings).
Detergent sheets showed the same pattern. In my 2023 test of five sheet brands, they cleaned much better in hot water than in cold, which is one of several reasons I don't recommend them. My full results are in the guide to laundry detergent sheets.
Hot water is harder on clothes. In my fading test, six dark fabrics washed five times lost 3% of their color in cold water and 20% in hot. Hot water also makes dyes bleed more, and those loose dyes can stain your other clothes (see color bleeding).
It also costs energy. Switching from hot to cold can cut the energy used in the wash cycle by up to 90%, and by 70% going from warm to cold. Clothes washed cold tend to last longer and fade less, and they're less likely to shrink.
For a wider guide to every setting, see what temperature to wash clothes. Temperature isn't the only factor, though. The detergent matters too, and I test every detergent in my lab-tested detergent rankings in cold, warm and hot water.
No. Cold on a washer usually has some hot water mixed in and sits around 30°C (roughly 85°F). Tap cold has no hot water mixed in, so it's whatever temperature your water supply is, which can be freezing in winter.
It means the washer uses water straight from your pipes with no temperature control. The temperature changes with where you live and the season.
For lightly worn garments and delicates that don't need a deep clean. For most everyday loads, the regular cold setting is the better choice.
About 30°C, which works out to roughly 85°F, about the temperature of a heated swimming pool. Warm is about 40°C (104°F) and hot is about 50°C (122°F).
Tap cold is great for energy savings because none of the water is heated. The trade-off is that it isn't always ideal for cleaning, since its temperature swings with your location and the season.
Much less well. In my test, a hot-water soak with oxygen bleach removed 40.7% of a stain, while the same soak in tap cold removed 23.6%. Use hot water for oxygen bleach soaks.
Or ask about any laundry or garment care question
Zach Pozniak is VP of Operations and co-owner of Jeeves of Belgravia New York, the Madison Avenue dry cleaner serving New York since 1979, and the fourth generation of his family in the trade. Zach posts garment care techniques as @jeeves_ny on TikTok to over 900,000 followers, and his book The Laundry Book, co-written with his father Jerry Pozniak, was featured on Good Morning America in October 2024. Jeeves NY's clients include the Metropolitan Opera, the Met Museum, and FIT, and the business has been featured in The Wall Street Journal and New York Magazine.