Did you install the washer yourself?

If not, double-check to make sure that the hot and cold water supply lines were not reversed during the installation. The Sears delevery crew that installed our Whirlpool Duet did, in fact, reverse the supply lines.

We didn't notice the problem for many weeks because we were mostly running warm water loads. Then we ran a Cold/Cold load and we noticed that the water was very warm.

So check that out.

While you're at it, check to make sure that your drain hose is secured to the drain pipe. Our Sears install crew also forgot to do that and we had a small flood when the drain hose propelled itself out of the drain pipe.

Good luck and let us know what you figure out!

You don't say in which part of the country you're located. The winter season is at hand, incoming cold water temps are dropping. Many machines have a "controlled" cold feature (sometimes called ATC or "automatic temperature control" or "assured temperature control" and other such terms) that adds a bit of hot/warm water to the cold if it'd otherwise be too cold. Detergent efficiency plummets at temps lower than about 65°F. Clothing manufacturers generally accept up to 80°F or so as being cold. If your machine allows manually changing the temperature setting from what's normally programmed into the various cycles, set it at Tap Cold if there is that choice, which should override the hot/cold mixing.

People are becoming too concerned and adamant about washing in cold, Cold, COLD water. There have been numerous discussions on this board about the problems that can arise with icky grunge/residue in the machine as a consequence. See current thread titled Moldy Fisher-Paykel washer-anyone else have this problem?.

Hi Everyone!

It was professionally installed - and I did double check the hoses (and my husband also checked them).

I'm in Northern California - and while temperatures have reached a far-too-cold-for-my-tastes 50 degrees (+/- 5 degrees), we've been averaging around 60.

The lady at Whirlpool mentioned something about a temperature control - and said that it was set to like 66 degrees or something like that; but this water was warmer than that. It was warm to the touch when I felt the clothing. 60 something degrees would be fine - but not 90 something. (unless it's towels)

How would I set it to Tap Cold? The only settings I've been able to find on the stupid thing are a bunch of pre-sets. "Casual" "Delicates" "Handwash" etc... As far as I've been able to determine there is no manual setting this dumb thing.

Re: Mold - I generally run a hot wash load atleast once a week or once every other week, and I always leave the door open to dry out. I haven't had a problem so far with any funky odors, although I've been keeping a nose out, just in case.

>> "How would I set it to Tap Cold? The only settings I've been able to find on the stupid thing are a bunch of pre-sets. "Casual" "Delicates" "Handwash" etc... As far as I've been able to determine there is no manual setting this dumb thing."

The Cold water temp option IS the cold setting that you're looking for.. I'm not sure what else you expect. The Duet manual does seem to suggest that the washer won't heat the water at all if you set it to Cold (it warns about how detergent doesn't dissolve well in water temps below 60 degrees F), but who knows. Maybe it does heat the water a little bit if the incoming water is below 60 degrees. We have a Duet 9400 in our Northern California house but unfortunately I won't be back home till the holidays so unfortunately I can't test out our Cold water setting for you.

Try to isolate the problem to see if it's really the washer's fault. When exactly did you notice the warm water? Is it happening during the first 8 minutes of the Normal Cycle, when the Add-the-Garment light is on? If you open the door and there's warm water in the drum, then try immediately stopping the washer and then unhooking the hoses. Is the temperature of the water that's coming out of the hoses the same as the water inside the washer?

Assuming I'm looking at the correct user instruction manual for your model ... there's a Water Temp selector button toward the mid-right side of the panel. After selecting a fabric cycle on the dial, but before pressing Start, press the button repeatedly to select the desired temperature. Some selections may be unavailable with certain cycles. Before pressing Start, the currently-selected options are lit green, other valid choices are amber, anything unavailable is not lit.

The manual advises that detergents do not dissolve or work well in temperatures below 60°F (this also applies to liquids, they DO have to "dissolve"). It further states that 6th Sense technology monitors/controls ALL temperature settings ... so apparently this machine does not have a Tap Cold setting.

Hi again

I WAS using the select water temperature setting - on cold - and the water was warm. It was in the first few minutes. The lady at Whirlpool stated this was a "feature" that ALL the cycles use a combination of hot/cold water, except for the the "handwash" pre-set, which will allow a cold/cold wash.

Checking the manual verifies this as the case. Is there a way to override this "feature"? Or am I stuck with forever washing my items in the delicate cycle, because I gotta say - if thats the case, it may just be a total deal-breaker for me.

Why not check the temperature with a thermometer to confirm what's actually in there? Set the machine on warm, let it run for several minutes until it has stopped filling and settled to washing, pause it, check the temp in the drum with an instant-read kitchen thermometer. Then start over and check again with it set on cold. If there's essentially no difference, then the ATC function may not be working properly.

It's also possible that the 6th Sense feature targets slightly different temperatures based on the fabric selection. For example, cold on the Jeans or Casuals cycles may purposely be slightly warmer than cold on Handwash.

What would be the harm if your jeans or casuals are washed in slightly warmer water? I've never done my jeans or casuals in cold. My toploader targets the incoming temperature for warm at 115°F, which results in about 105°F actually in the tub after thermal absorption evens-out the water temp. Warm water relaxes fabric fibers to help shed wrinkles and release soil. Your skin temperature is around 95°F, so 90°F surely shouldn't harm the clothes.

That is a great idea - I will try that next time I do laundry.

As for the harm in washing jeans/casuals in warm; I don't mind the occasional warm wash for jeans if they get really grungy or something - but most of my jeans specifically state cold wash on the label.

Tops are another matter though - both my husband and myself are very particular about the fit of our shirts, and often times even a small amount of shrinkage can change the fit. Plus clothes retain their colors longer (less fading) when washed in cold water. Clothes are expensive, and I don't want to replace them if I don't have to.

I know - I'm kinda OCD about the whole thing. But I accepted that about myself a long, long time ago.

My Miele washer uses 86degF for a cold wash. It'll even heat the water to that temperature if necessary. And one of Miele's selling points is that they take exceptionally good care of your clothes, so they'll last longer.

Mine is doing the same thing, only on all cycles, even the hand wash cold is scalding. When it first starts to put water in, it is cool, then it tumbles, as it continues to fill, the water gets hotter and hotter. It's so hot it appears to be on the sanitize cycle. I ruined a load of black clothes pretty much before I knew it was messed up. I had to call repair since now I have no cold water settings at all. These washers are so expensive, it's a shame! BTW it did work right the first year I had the machine. I was like the first commenter, except I went by the washer and felt heat, looked up and the glass was all steamed up (the washer is behind louvers).

This happened with my original Whirlpool Duet, same model as OP. We tried a bunch of different things, including changing out the control board and I was never able to figure it out. In the middle of that saga the door latch broke and I ended up with a new washer.

From someone who has hot water come from both taps throughout most of the year (except when I want a quick shower, of course), I need to check this out. I use cold water for about half my laundry and haven't noticed it coming in hot. I expect my 'cold' water to come in slightly warm, tepid, whatever. Cold water will happen in December, January and February.

Regards to changing the control board, most Duet models have a separate temp sensor (thermistor) either in the water valve assembly or somewhere in the incoming flow path, or in the tub sump (for models with water heating). The thermistor can go bad when the control board is OK.

I put my 95's thru the paces today and all temps seem ok. I do have a steam button on the washer but haven't used it. One of the best features of this set of Duets is having the choice of water temps and soil levels. I don't know for a fact that the cold is cold but the door didn't fog up.

I also have the whirl pool duet and it does add hot water to the cold water cycle. It is a great disappointment to me as I have electric hot water, how they can say that this is energy efficient is beyond me. Our service man said that is the way they are set up and by disconnecting the cold water will cause the washer to stop and a code will pop up. Other than this issue I love this machine.

Sherry Thurbide, as explained above water temperature lower than approx 65°F is too cold for detergent ingredients to be effective so many washers nowadays with ATC (automatic temp control) mix a little warm or hot to a cold wash fill if necessary. Cold rinses usually are full tap-cold without any hot/warm added.

Thanks

My new Duet does the same thing. Drives me nuts. But, since I have an on demand water heater I just turn it off while I'm doing laundry. It's just a press of a button. So even when the washer draws water through the hot water side, cold water comes out.

Sherri, better to let the machine do what it needs to do. Too-cold wash water isn't effective. Running only cold washes will lead to a smutzy washer.

We have the same problem with our Duet washer. It appears to use only hot water whatever we do (I've tried switching the hoses out etc.) What a hunk of junk! My primary concern is energy conservation, I've heard water heaters are the largest energy suck in most households.

Gee Whiz, do you think the energy companies had a say in how these machines are engineered? (sarcasm) Energy efficient is a flat-out lie. Who the heck can you trust these days? Clearly not Whirlpool!

Just want to say, I'm glad this forum is here otherwise I would have wasted time and money trying to figure out why the duet in the house I just bought has warm water for the cold cycle! I thought the hoses were reversed but when I checked a hot water wash on towels, guess what, it was even hotter! I agree with comments on energy conservation. Not! And if it's a problem with detergents etc, why do other washers have a truly cold cycle? And this is not 65 degrees, I bet it is at least 82, warmer than a heated pool.

Lydiatheys, maybe the intake valve for the cold is stuck or broken. @Dadoes might be along to help. It might be something that will be fixable.

Would a Y spigot connected to the cold faucet fix this problem? I would then connect the hot line to the cold so then only cold would be used.

My electric has been high for years and I have never been able to figure it out but today I decided to see how hot the water coming out on a cold cycle really is....It scalded my fingers!!!! so That is using alot of my electric

Actually FYI I couldn't check the hoses because the washer and dryer had to be pulled out, but I finally had a plumber in and they confirmed the hoses were reversed, so this did solve the problem in my case. I now have cold cycles that are reasonably cold.

not to mention we end up with cold showers if the washer is on

You're right. The washing machine has it backwards! I have the same machine. I did a test. Turned the machine to wash clothes on "hot", and felt the hot water pipe leading into the hose, and it was cool. Then, I turned the washer on a COLD cycle, and the hot water pipe was HOT. I did check to make sure the machine matched up with the hot and cold lines.. Easy fix - just reverse the hot and cold hoses.

Funny thing is, I've been using the washer for years and never knew it. Maybe that's why my clothes have been getting tighter!

My washer just starting doing this! Normal color setting which should be cold is now using hot water. The synthetic color cycle is cold water so not the same issue. Model LHW0050PQ

Also check the actual temp on your hot water heater. I believe that’s where you’d check it. We’ve never done this, but my son & his wife have 3 little kids. They set the hot water on their HWHelater to a lower temp so that when their little ones wash their hands, if they choose hot water, it won’t get too hot & burn them. I like to have SCALDING HOT water available to wash my dishes so I wouldn’t want to turn my HWHeater lower. But if you’re so concerned with using cold water for your clothes, you can turn it down while doing cold loads. Warm water is not going to shrink or ruin your clothes. It doesn’t even do too much to the colors. If it did, like one commenter said, our bodies are typically about 90 degrees Fahrenhei. My clothes don’t loose their color or shrink while I’m wearing them. Also, bathing suits says to wash in cold water. I typically do, but I go in hot tubs a lot, I have suits that have been in a lot & no shrinkage or color loss yet & that water is HOT! Just another observation