| Laundry Costs Calculator | ||
| Case A | Case B | |
| Your machines | ||
| Washer Type |
|
|
| % of washes in Hot/Warm/Cold ? |
||
| "Cold" wash temp ? | ||
| Incoming water temp. (see map) |
||
| Water heater type | ||
| Dryer Type | ||
| Utility rates |
||
| Cost of electricity (per kWh) |
||
| Cost of gas ($/therm) | ||
| Cost of water ($/1000 gallons) |
||
| Cost of Detergent make your own for 2¢/load |
||
| Loads per week | ||
| Cost per load, washer | ||
| Cost per load, dryer | ||
| Total cost per load | $ | $ |
| Cost per month | $ | $ |
| Cost per year | $ | $ |
|
Some assumptions: 106°F hot, 88°F warm, regulated by washer. Washers are U.S. style (w/both hot & cold supply lines). See other assumptions & sources. |
||
How much does it cost to run a washing machine?
Last update: January 2016
I'm not updating this site any more, but wanted to point readers to the fact that of as March 2024, laundry appliances are about to get a lot more efficient.
The lowdown
Laundry is one of the easiest areas to reduce energy costs in. Here's where the waste is:Of course you can always run around the house naked, too. Then you'll have less clothes to wash.
- Water heating. As much as 90% of the energy used by washing clothes goes just to heat the water! So you can save a bundle just by changing the temperature setting. (~$150/year) Mr. Electricity washes in cold almost exclusively. Use the calculator to estimate your own savings.
- Inefficient washers. Non-Energy Star top-loaders use ridiculous amounts of water and energy. Get a front-loader or an Energy Star-rated top loader, which use about 3/4 less energy and water than washers made around 1992. I cover them in more detail below.
- Drying water-laden clothes. Many washers leave lots of water in the clothes, making the dryer run much longer. Front-loaders get more of the water out of your clothes. Event for front-loaders, run it on the fastest speed it allows. You can also use a Spin Dryer to extract water from your clothes before drying.
- Unnecessary drying. Dryers account for up to 90% of laundry energy. Ditch the dryer and just hang your clothes up to dry. There's 100% energy savings to be realized here. (See more on dryers & dryer costs.)
Help me find the energy use of washing machines
My data about washers is incomplete, so I'm hoping you'll help my research effort by sharing data about your own washing machine with me. I need your help because washing machine manufacturers don't publish those specs themselves, and the government's ratings include the water used to heat the water and to dry the clothes, making it impossible to isolate just the washer machine energy itself. Getting this data will enable me to make the calculator more accurate. I need:
- Your washer's manufacturer, model number, and serial number (which will let me find the year it was made)
- The energy use as measured with a Kill-A-Watt meter, and/or
- The total number of gallons used (you can drain into a bathtub and measure there)
- The number of gallons used for the wash cycle
- The number of gallons used for the rinse cycle
- The % of water that's extracted, by weighing the clothes before and after washing them.
Heating the water is most of the energy use
If you wash in hot, then up to 90% of the energy is going just to heat the water. You can save a bundle by just just lowering the temperature. Front-loaders use less water than top-loaders, and thus require less energy to heat it, but it's still around 85% of energy going to heat the water even in a front-loader. Here's how energy is used depending on the temperature selected:
Table is electrical cost only (excludes the cost of water, often 22¢/load). Top-loading washer.
Price per load (electricity), based on water temperature
Wash/Rinse Setting
Electrical Use
kWh/loadCost per load Cost per year Hot / Warm
4.5 kWh
68¢ $265 Warm / Warm
3.5 kWh
53¢ $206 Hot / Cold
2.8 kWh
42¢ $165 Warm / Cold
1.9 kWh
29¢ $112 Cold / Cold
0.3 kWh
4¢ $16
Electricity @ 15¢/kWh, water heated electrically.
See how this was calculated and how to misquote this site.Lessons to be learned here:
- Wash in cold! To put in perspective how wasteful hot water is,
washing your clothes in hot instead of cold for a year, wastes
more electricity than leaving the refrigerator door open 24
hours a day for a year. Heck, even washing in warm
instead of cold wastes that much energy. (Fridge
open 24/7: 143 watts x 14.4 extra hours day x 365 days/yr. =
752 kWh.) Hot water shrinks your clothes,
anyway, and fades and wears your clothes out faster.
- Always use cold water for the RINSE cycle. Using warm or hot
water for the Rinse cycle doesn't get your clothes any cleaner.
- If you feel that warm water doesn't clean as well for you as
hot, then just use a warm pre-soak. Soaking clothes in warm
water is usually just as good or better as hot water with no
soak.
-
Some models raise cold water washes to a minimum temperature, saying that detergents work better at that temperature. (e.g., One Maytag model I found ensures a minimum of 70°F.) Some machines which have minimum cold water temps allow you to turn that feature off, so you can use regular, unheated cold water. If you don't want to pay to heat your cold-water washes, make sure the next washer you buy doesn't have a minimum cold-water temp, or at least lets you override it. Or if your washer doesn't heat the water itself, then just turn off the hot water supply line. The tables on this page assume that cold water washes are completely unheated.
- On most U.K. washers (and I suspect European and Australian
washers), the lowest wash setting is 30°C/86°F, which is warm,
not cold. (source)
What's more, the washer itself heats the water, so you can't
override this: the washer is always going to heat up your
cold water a little bit -- and you'll be paying for it.
- If you must wash in hot or warm water frequently, use a
front-loading washer. They use about 2/3 less water, so
you'll be paying a lot less to heat that water.
Front-loading washing machines are the way to go
|
|
||||
| Gas Heater | Electric Heater | |||
| How you typically wash | Top-Loader | Front-Loader | Top-Loader | Front-Loader |
| 100% Hot | $168 | $87 | $252 | $138 |
| 50% Hot/Cold, 50% Cold/Cold | $134 | $67 | $176 | $92 |
| 50% Warm/Cold, 50% Cold/Cold | $122 | $59 | $148 | $76 |
| 25% Hot/Cold, 75% Cold/Cold | $117 | $57 | $138 | $70 |
| 100% Cold/Cold | $101 | $47 | $101 | $47 |
|
Includes energy
+ water + water heating costs. Based on LOTS of
assumptions! See how
this was calculated.
|
||||
| |
||||
Savings. Front-loading washers use 40-75% less water and 30-85% less energy than typical top-loaders. They cost about $100 more than top-loaders (starting around $500), but they can often save $100/year or more. (Use the calculator at the top of this page to estimate the savings for your particular situation.)
They pay for themselves.
- They cost more about $170 more than top-loaders, but common savings are often $100/yr.
- The only time a front-loader won't pay for itself is if you already use cold water almost exclusively, and you do a lot less laundry than average.
- Use the calculator at the top of this page to figure the savings for your particular situation.
- If you can sell your old washer for anything, that makes an
upgrade more affordable.
- Some city and state governments and utilities offer tax credits or rebates for the purchase of a front-loading washer.
- They use much less water than top-loaders. That means less energy to heat the water.
- They use less energy to spin the drum around.
- They spin faster, so they wring more water out of your clothes, which means less energy for drying.
- Some early front-loaders had mold and odor problems.
Those problems have been fixed. If you have an older
washer with these problems, after cleaning it with a bleach
solution, always leave the door open after doing laundry. Also,
a $60 Washer
Fan claims to fix the problem (it easily attaches to a
vent on the back of the machine), but I haven't tried it and
it's not sold on Amazon where we could check reviews.
- Customer satisfaction with current front-loaders is very
high. The screenshot at right shows that thousands Home
Depot customers have given the depicted model nearly perfect
reviews.
- Front-loaders clean much better than top loaders,
according to Consumer Reports and Reviewed.com.
- Clothes last longer in a front-loader, because they're cleaned
by simple tumbling, rather than being jerked around with an
agitator. (High Efficiency top-loaders don't have an
agitator, either.)
- I'm well aware that a number of right-wing websites are running articles saying that efficient washers are an evil plan by the government to control our lives and that they don't clean clothes well. (One such article is titled, "How Washington Ruined Your Washing Machine".) Their claims fall flat in the face of actual enormous consumer praise (see for example the model shown at right), and independent testing by Consumer Reports that shows that front-loaders clean better than top-loaders.
- You can load them up more. You can't stuff top-loaders very full or the agitator can't move the clothes around well. But you can easily stuff a front-loader, where the water will reduce the volume of the clothes, and the tumbling action will work fine.
- Since front-loaders lack the central agitator, it's easier to wash large items like bedspreads, rugs, and sleeping bags.
Energy Star top-loaders
Energy Star, HE (High Efficiency), and CEE Tiers
Washers that use very little water and energy get the Energy Star logo from the EPA. You can see the logo in the bottom-right of the yellow EnergyGuide label which is attached to all appliances. (If the washer doesn't qualify, there will be no logo on the EnergyGuide label.) Pretty much all front-loaders qualify for the Energy Star designation. (If a non-Energy Star front loader actually exists, I haven't seen it.) Several top-loaders also qualify, although they're not as miserly with the water and energy as front-loaders. Energy Star top-loaders are notable for not having a central agitator. Here's the EPA's list of Energy Star washers.Energy Star and High Efficiency (HE) almost the same thing. Energy Star means it meets the EPA standards. High Efficiency means it uses very little water and so special HE detergents should be used; most of these qualify for Energy Star, but not all of them. So:
A non-profit group called CEE gives ratings for super-efficient appliances. CEE Tier 1 appliances are the same as Energy Star, CEE Tier 2 is even more efficient, and CEE Tier 3 is even more efficient than that.
- All Energy Star machines are also HE.
- Most HE machines are Energy Star, but some aren't.
- So, the Energy Star logo is more important than the HE logo.
Crappy
U.S.
label |
Better EU label |
Energy Use labels
All major U.S. appliances carry an "EnergyGuide" label, to give consumers an idea of how efficient an appliance is compared to similar models. (Don't confuse that with the EnergyStar logo, which is awarded only to very efficient appliances.)
The Energy Guide label leaves an awful lot to be desired. The ones in the European Union are much more helpful. You can see a comparison at right.
Note that the U.S. labels include the energy required to heat the water, but they don't make that clear on the label, which results in a lot of confusion. For example, one unsuspecting consumer's blog post made the mistake of counting the energy used for heating the water twice, because she didn't know that the figure she found for the machine's energy use already included the energy to heat the water.
Shame on washing machine manufacturers for not publishing specs
Almost no manufacturer whose products are sold in the U.S. bothers to publish energy and water use per load specs in their user manuals or on their websites. They also don't tell you the temperature they use for Hot and Warm settings. The websites and manuals generally do have a "Specifications" listing, and sometimes even a "Detailed Specifications" listing, but somehow they don't consider the amount of electricity or water used to be a relevant specification of a washing machine! These ridiculous omissions are unfair to consumers—and for me, it means it took many extra hours to compile the data for this page trying to hunt down good figures.
Speed Queen gets a special mention for being the only manufacturer to provide me with the data I was looking for. Everyone else failed miserably. (more...)
Manufacturers
U.S.-owned
- Whirlpool. 23% market share. Parent company of Amana, Maytag, and KitchenAid. They all share the same call center. Also makes at least some models for Kenmore.
- Maytag. 20% market share. Owned by Whirlpool.
- Kenmore. 15% market share. Owned by Sears. According to models in the EPA Regulatory Database, at least some of their models are made by Whirlpool.
- Amana. Owned by Whirlpool.
- Speed Queen. Well-known for making commercial washers/dryers, but also makes residential models.
- KitchenAid. Owned by Whirlpool.
- Crosley. Whirlpool makes their washers.
Foreign-owned
- LG (South Korea) TEMPS
- Samsung (South Korea) TEMPS
- GE (China). To be sold to Haier in 2016.
- Bosch (Germany). Makes only compact washers.
- Frigidaire (Sweden; made by Electrolux)
- Electrolux (Sweden)
- ASKO (Sweden) TEMPS
- Fisher & Paykel (New Zealand)
- Haier (China). Set to buy GE Appliances in 2016.
- Primus (Belgium)
I checked each website and manual for a single front-loading washer. I presume that if they don't list it for one, they don't list it for any. Marketshare figures from Euromonitor, 2015.
Make your own laundry detergent
You can slash your soap costs by 90% by simply making your own soap. Trent at The Simple Dollar offers a recipe for homemade laundry detergent that costs around 2¢ per load. That a whole lot less than a jumbo bottle of Tide Bleach Alternative which clocks in at 20¢ per load. And since it looks to be a low-sudsing recipe, it ought to work fine in HE washers.
I'm glad I now have a good context to link to The Simple Dollar, because it's a fantastic guide to keeping your costs down, but more importantly, it gives valuable life lessons for financial security. So I hope you'll check out The Simple Dollar.
Home-made washing machines
There is nothing magical about a washing machine! It forces water and soap through your clothes and that's it. You can get nearly the same results from washing by hand. And you don't have to wash for as long as a washer does, because you can push the water through your clothes a lot more effectively than a machine does.
The design I like best combines a 5-gallon bucket and a plunger. Low-tech, and effective.
But what if you've got a large family and lots of laundry to do? Well, then you've got lots of people to help with the laundry, right? :)
By the way, I did find a couple of very small, low-tech washers, like the hand-cranked WonderWash, and the electric-powered Wonder Washer. Because of the tiny capacity, they're not a replacement for a regular washer, but they could be good for RV's, camping, or washing small items in a home that doesn't have its own washing machine (saving you a trip to the laundromat).
Washing machines use more energy than it takes to make them
As with just about every machine (like appliances and cars), it takes way more energy to operate the machine than it does to make it. For a washing machine, about 73% of its lifetime energy comes from using it, with the other 27% coming from embedded energy (including materials extraction & production, manufacturing, and distribution) and end of life disposal/recycling. (EEB, pp. 12-13)
Anti-efficiency nuts are claiming that because the government has mandated more efficient washers, that somehow also makes them wear out much faster, and so new washers actually use more energy because we're replacing them every 2-3 years now and it takes a lot of energy to make a washing machine. First of all, if washer life had actually gone down dramatically, it would be exceptionally obvious. Everyone would have noticed. But it hasn't. Consumer Reports shows barely any difference in customer-reported reliability between front-loaders and top-loaders, and actual customer reviews show what they always have for all kinds of appliances, energy-efficient or not: some small percentage of customers get a product that happens to have problems, while the overwhelming majority don't. Mr. Electricity is enjoying the 11th year of his 2006 LG TROMM washer.
Sources
Sources for everything on this page that's not already linked is on my washing machine figures page.
Questions I've answered about washing machines
Everyone says to run appliances like washing machines and dishwashers at night to save money. Is electricity cheaper at night? -- Melissa, Appomattox, VA
Not usually, but it depends on how your utility company charges you for power. Some utilities charge less for evening use, and you can check your electric bill or call your utility company to find out for sure. It could also pay to run appliances in the evening when the air conditioning is off if your utility company has a demand charge. See the next answer.
Does
it raise your electric bill to run two appliances at the same
time rather than one after the other? Like, say, the
washer and the dryer or the oven and the dryer? We have
an all electric house and were trying to save money on our
electric bill. —Christie
It depends on whether your utility company has a separate demand charge in addition to the consumption charge. The demand charge based on the maximum amount of electricity you draw at any one time. This chart from Wisconsin Electric illustrates the concept. The shaded area is how much electricity you used, and you know you get charged for that. But the black bar on top is the demand, how much energy you "demanded" at any given point throughout the day. If your utility company has a demand charge (ask them), then you can save money by spreading out your electrical use throughout the day. Running appliances one after the other rather than at the same time would reduce your demand. And better yet, running them when you're not using much electricity for other purposes (such as at night when the air conditioner is off) will reduce your demand even more.
You say I'll save money by washing in cold, but shouldn't I wash in hot to kill germs? -- Eric
No. The hot water in washing machines isn't typically hot enough to kill germs, so there's effectively no difference between hot and cold. (PubMed) Second, if you put your clothes in a clothes dryer then the air will get up to 125-135°F, much hotter than a hot-water wash. (GE) Third, if you line-dry your clothes (something I've strongly encouraged for years), then the sun acts as a natural disinfectant. (National Geographic)