I can’t decide the best way to secure our front loading washing machine.

We have twins. They’re fascinated by the washing machine. Lights, beeps, action… everything. One twin getting inside and their erstwhile companion starting the cycle is absolutely possible.

Obviously we keep the laundry door closed but in a way you just build up the appeal. One of them has figured out how to open doors by standing on his trike.

I could put some kind of stick-on toddler lock on the door but I worry it would be tough to establish the habit of closing the door and putting that lock on. Besides which surely it’s nice to leave the door open to dry out between loads anyway?

The washing machine does have a toddler lock but that’s only to prevent someone changing the settings during a cycle, it doesn’t prevent starting a cycle.

My best idea thus far is a timer on the power outlet. So you turn on the power and set the timer to turn it off after however long the load takes.

The problem with this is that I haven’t been able to find a count-down style timer that allows you to set periods longer than 2 hours. Most power outlet timer thingies do schedules, not count-down.

I know this maybe sounds like an easily solvable problem - just turn the power off when it’s done - but that’s just not how things roll in our house.

  • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    1 day ago

    Looks like a model released specifically for the Aussie market. You’re in Oz?

    Per the manual:

    Child Lock: Select this function on the control assembly to prevent tampering. “Child Lock” can be set only during the washing cycle.

    What a breathtakingly stupid design. I’m going to have to eat crow on this one; I have never seen such a thing before, and why the hell it would be devised this way is beyond me. All US and to my knowledge also Euro models allow you to lock the thing out when it’s off, for the express and obvious purpose of preventing toddlers from washing themselves (or your pets). This indeed seems like the sort of thing that would get somebody sued.

    In that case, back to your thought about a countdown timer plug. Something like this might work? If I’m interpreting the Engrish correctly, you can set it to some interval and it just shuts off after the specified time. It says it goes up to 10 hours – definitely more than 2. And not on a schedule.

    Plan C… Can you swap the doorknob on the laundry room door to one with a keyed lock on it? Or is it one of those sliding pocket door arrangements?

    • null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
      2·
      1 day ago

      Yeah.

      I agree the child lock feature seems poorly considered.

      I did read somewhere that in the future regulations might require better child locks, or more touches to start a cycle or something. Not helpful to us though.

      The item you linked does actually look as though it’s the kind of timer I was looking for.

      However, I think I’ve decided to get a smart plug that’s controlled by wifi that will allow me to configure it to just power off once the cycle is done. Tinkering with this sort of stuff will be fun for other uses anyway.

      There’s also a specialised child lock someone suggested which I’ve linked elsewhere in this thread. It’s not perfect - it just adheres to the front of the machine and I’m certain that it wouldn’t stand up to even mild interest from a toddler, but it’s something I guess.

      I could put a lock on the laundry door no problem, but my concern is that it will get left open sooner or later due to laziness or a guest or something. The locked door will just make that room more appealing IMO meaning that occasionally forgetting to lock the door is almost as risky as never closing the door.

      I think the smart plug is the best shot at a “solution”.