Switching a washing machine on at 2am. How?

[gordon taylor]

We have cheap electricity at night, and use it for water heating and the dishwasher - which has a time delay "on" control.

The washing machine, however, needs a human finger to poke the switch to make it start. I've tried plugging it in to a timeswitched socket, but that doesn't work.

Do I need to invent a Heath-Robinson type thing with pulleys and a waterwheel to poke this switch in the wee sma' hours? Or is there something easier around.

PS: No, I won't get up in the middle of the night to do the poking. Phnar! Phnar!

[vince]

Really annoying isn't it? I deliberately bought a washing machine that I could do this with, whereas the flat I am in at the moment has the washing machine wired in somewhere pretty inaccessible to discourage you from doing it.

[Chris S]

We use one of these:


   7 Day Digital Timer > Maplin


Two actually - one for the drier, one for the WM. Just program it for whatever cheap hours you have - ours is midnight to 7am.

Edit: Of course - useless to you now I've read your post properly  .

[border-rider]

Is it a mains voltage switch or a low voltage one ?

If it's low voltage I'd run a wire out from the switch, one conductor soldered to each side of it, with the appropriate timed switch on it to short out the switch.

If it's a mains switch that's probably illegal

or

can you start the machine, so it just begins to fill,  then turn off the mains at the wall and have it turn back on using a timed socket ?

[alan]

Get someone else to get up at 2 a.m to switch it on.

[Chris S]

Train a cat to do it?

[Jaded]

It's the electronic timer ones that don't do it. What is wrong with a good old bit of clockwork?

We got a dishwasher with a delay time built in, not sure if they are available in washing machines?

[andygates]

Timer switch plus tape the start button down?

I'll have to try that myself as I'd like to do it too!

[TimO]

If it's actually an electrical push button, you could wire a relay across it, with a simple power on reset circuit to  trigger it after the power has been applied.  It wouldn't be all that complex to make, but exactly what it would need to do would depend on how long after you applied power you need to wait before pressing the button, and whether it needs to then be released for the operation to occur.

Not a problem for me, my stupidly expensive Miele washing machine can be set to turn on anyway time up to 24 hours away, but I don't need that since I don't have any sort of cheap power overnight.

[vince]

This is going to be fun when it needs to be repaired under warranty 

[JT]

The top end Hotpoint Aqualtis washing machines have a 24 hour time delay function.

PM me if you want one at staff rates.

</plug>

[Baggy]

can you start the machine, so it just begins to fill,  then turn off the mains at the wall and have it turn back on using a timed socket ?

I reckon that might work - it works when I switch mine off to sneak in the odd sock that you inevitably find on the stairs after you've switched it on.

[Treewheeler]

My flat back in France was on a night time tarrif and so were the neighbours.
Not funny to be woken or try to get to sleep with a crappy machine going thump thump thump thump whine....

 

[Jaded]

Washing machines in flats (particularly Scottish tenements with subsidence) can have other side effects.

[Mike J]

Ours has some sort of start delay that you can set, I would set it to go at night but its too loud on the spin cycle.

[Wombat]

I know ours, which has the same sort of on switch, but isn't fancy enough to have a time delay start, couldn't be fiddled by the start, then turn off at mains, trick.  If you kill it, you'd need to hit the start button again.  Its probably a NVR switch, no power, no result, and as its probalby a logic switch, or whatever they call them, holding it down may not work, as I suspect they need a single push, when the power is on, to activate them? 

all in all, not easy...

[iddu]

Or is there something easier around.

Swap with TimO 

[Julian]

Rent a room out to a teenager - they'll come in at 2am and switch it on for you.  It could be part of the rent agreement.

[citoyen]

stupidly expensive Miele

YGWYPF. We've got a Miele and this is precisely one of the reasons why. Excellent value for money.

Sorry, that's not really a helpful answer from the OP's point of view. On a more practical note, I liked MV's idea:

can you start the machine, so it just begins to fill,  then turn off the mains at the wall and have it turn back on using a timed socket ?

This would have worked with the last washing machine we owned. I don't know if it would work with the Miele (for the reasons Wombat said), [smug git]but then it doesn't need to.[/smug git]

d.