Do you need a boiler (hot water) to run a washing machine? Or does the washing machine heat the water itself?

You need a external hot water supply. The 95degrees just indicates the max tempreture the machine can handle. Why dont u rather only use cold water? It will prolong the life of ur clothing.

Washing Machine Hot Water

In the UK washing machines often have both hot and cold feeds- thats for our USA cousins.

You are right in thinking that the machine will heat the water if that coming in is not hot enough. However, if you only have cold feed available you must use a T or Y junction and feed both machine inlets with cold water. For some programmes the machine will open the hot feed only as it is going to do a hot wash and then adjust the water temperature if not hot enough- if no connection it will not fill. For cooler washes it will open the cold feed only and heat the water as there is a good chance your hot feed is too warm. The junctions are available at all DIY outlets. The heating is done by a mini immersion heater fitted below the drum.

If your washing machine has one inlet in the back then it just uses cold water and the machine heats the water to the desired temperature. If your machine has 2 inlets one for hot red and one for cold blue then the machine will need a hot water supply however the machine will still heat the water up to 95 degrees for a boil wash as the temp of your hot tap water will never be this high it does however save electric not having to heat the water as much or at all on lower temperatures.

Yes , most washing machines only take a small amount of water , and the "hot " water inlet normally needs to run before any hot water comes through , so normally both pipes feed cold water. The washing machine has its own water heater built in so its a problem.

It is not unusual for UK machines, which have have hot and cold fill pipes, to have both connected to a single cold feed by using a "Y" adapter. Your machine will heat the water to the temperature required, for the wash program, with its built in element, so the actual temperature of the incoming "hot fill" water is not important. The wash program may take a little longer and your electricity consumption will be a bit higher by using cold water only, but this will not affect the wash performance of your machine.

A lot of modern machines are cold fill only and they heat their own water.

As to your question, is it the metal drum heats up. No, the water is heated by an element, usually fitted below the drum.

Hope this helps.

My washing machine which is a Bosch is cold fill only so the machine heats the water to the required temperature. The reason I know this is my machine is in my out building which only has cold water - there is no feed from my home for hot.

I think many people on here are from the US where they are a wee bit different to us.

All modern washing machines have a hot and cold connection at the back, you may Connect both or one to the tap or taps, no hot water is required either way, if the machine has hot water it will use it, if not it will heat it for you. If you have no hot water supply there is no need to hook up the hot connection at the back, it will heat the cold for you,but like a kettle it will cost you to heat.

Just hook up the cold water to the blue outlet on the washer and select cold water on the front dial of your machine. There is laundry soap now that is specifically made for cold water wash. You don't need hot water. It will save you money and your clothes come out just as clean and using cold water for everything will ensure that your clothes won't shrink.

My washing machine has one water feed (cold) which screws on and one waste/drainage feed that push fits on.

You may have the red and blue but are the both connected?

You could try turning your boiler off then try and do some washing