Cleaning with cold or hot water?

For the answer, I would like to refer to the Flemish research project 'Optimisation of cleaning and disinfection in animal husbandry', which shows that the effectiveness of a cleaning and disinfection protocol does not differ when cleaning with cold or warm (60°C) water.

In this study, four wet cleaning techniques (high pressure - soaping and rinsing) were compared in 12 broiler houses. The houses were all dry cleaned beforehand.

The test looked at the usefulness of soaking for wet cleaning and the difference in the use of cold and hot water during cleaning.

Conclusions:

• There was no difference between the cold and hot cleaning as far as the number of germs (total aerobic bacteria and enterococci) was concerned.
• The detergents (sodium hydroxide-based) work sufficiently well with cold water
• Cold water used 4 L/m2 more than hot water
• If soaking was applied, this difference was only 0.65 L/m2
• With soaking, at least 2x more bacteria were removed than without soaking.

Apart from this research, it is known that a cleaning agent (degreaser) has a much better foam quality and therefore much better adhesion, when applied with cold water.

Cold water therefore achieves a similar result in terms of germination pressure as hot water. The soaking agent ultimately makes the big difference.

Nevertheless, it is of course nicer for the sprayer in the winter to clean the stables with warm water.