Here’s an interesting, slightly quirky piece on the machine à laver hotfill — a concept that sounds obsolete but is quietly making a comeback in the age of energy efficiency and smart home tech. At first glance, asking for a machine à laver hotfill feels like requesting a VHS rewinder or a fax machine. For decades, modern washing machines have been strictly coldfill — plumbed only into the cold water pipe, relying on an internal heating element to raise the water temperature. Hotfill machines, which connect to your home’s hot water tank or boiler, seemed to vanish from showrooms in the 1990s.

And if you’re renovating your laundry room? Maybe run that hot pipe after all. Your future self, washing sheets on a sunny winter afternoon, will thank you.

Even on a 30°C eco cycle, a clever hotfill machine could draw cold water if the incoming hot is too warm. But if your solar thermal panels have been baking all afternoon, that 30°C comes free from the sun. Hotfill only works if your hot water is delivered quickly and at a usable temperature. If your boiler is across the house, the first litres of water will be cold as the pipe purges. You’d waste water and energy waiting for heat to arrive. That’s why hotfill machines are most popular in countries like Germany and Switzerland, where homes often have recirculating hot water loops or compact combi-boilers near the utility room.