Cold wash (snowflake)
The water is not heated: the machine washes at the temperature of the cold supply.
What it is for
Colours that run, lightly soiled clothes and anything labelled for a low temperature, when you want to save the energy of heating. Beko lists cold alongside 30 °C for lightly soiled synthetics, woollens and delicates.
Makes differ, check your machine’s manual: the same drawing can mean different things on different brands, and only your model’s manual says exactly what a programme does, how hot and how long.
- What it looks like
- A six-armed snowflake, alone or in place of a temperature number.
- Names makers use
- Cold wash (Hoover, hOn); Cold (Beko temperature setting)
Where makes differ
Hoover and hOn both draw a snowflake. Beko’s display has no snowflake: “Cold selection is shown with ‘-’ symbol” on the temperature indicator. On a tumble dryer, cold air is a different function: see the cooling phase.
Often confused with
Drying has finished and the dryer is blowing unheated air through the load to cool it and the drum before the end.
Other symbols with the same shapes
Sources
No single published standard defines washing-machine or dryer programme icons, so this meaning is taken from 3 makers’ own guides and manuals, each fetched and read on the date shown:
- Hoover: Hoover UK — What do the symbols on your washing machine actually mean? — “A snowflake, for a cold wash.” Checked 2026-09-25.
- hOn (Haier Europe): hOn — Washing Machine Symbols: how to interpret them with hOn — “Cold wash: identified by a snowflake.” Checked 2026-09-25.
- Beko: Beko UK — WI 1382 washing machine user’s manual (PDF) — Temperature selection: temperature falls in 10° steps and “Cold selection is shown with ‘-’ symbol”; 30 °C/Cold suggested for lightly soiled synthetics, woollens and delicates. Checked 2026-09-25.
Written in our own words; quotations are the makers’ wording.