The purpose of this research was to investigate the efficiency of laundering at low and recommended water temperatures using a heavy‐duty biological detergent and a low‐temperature detergent. The effectiveness of the process was measured in terms of the degree of stain/soil removal from laundered garments, and in the removal and transfer of bacteria from infected test pieces. The results indicate that with both detergents a reduction in washing efficiency occurs as the temperature of laundering is decreased, except when the difference between the recommended and low water temperature is small. Evidence was also obtained that shows that reducing wash temperatures decreases the degree of disinfection and increases the cross‐infection of articles washed in the same