Fitting a washing machine timer....

R.O.S.S.I

R.O.S.S.I

R.O.S.S.I

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Hi all, looking for a bit of advice really.

Just moved into a flat which is economy 7 for eleccy so means using it udring the night is cheapest.

Now I'd have liked to have just bought a timer plug to pop on where it is plugged in but for some god unknown reason all of the kitchen units are sealed with silicone underneath and its a built in integrated washer thingy so I can't pull the machine out or anything plus there isnt enough room behind the units to see where it is actually plugged so has left me in a bit of a pickle.

On the wall we have like a master switch for the washer but obviously its just a wall switch so no way to fit a timer to it.

Now short of paying £30-£40 for like a fused spur timeswitch which I can just replace the existing wall switch i'm just wondering if there may be a cheaper way I can sort out fitting a timer of some sort

Here is a picture of the switch on the wall.

w89dzq.jpg


Is there anything else other than the above mentioned £30-£40 fused timeswitches I could use instead?
 
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by the time you buy, say a 3 pin socket, and plug, then get a timer it wont be much cheaper than the Timer spur
 
R.O.S.S.I said:
I could switch it on after 7, but the Economy 7 cheap rates don't start till gone midnight iirc. I think its possibly around 1AM around here.
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hmm I thought the whole Idea of Economy 7 was that it was after 7pm at night but that was a few years back when I used to have them big storage heaters that used to `charge up` at night.

Going back to the orginal problem. You could fit a 3 pin socket and timer clock that could be cheaper than fitting the timed spur but you might save a few quid not much.

Perhaps you might want to also look at your usage of electric and see if you are able to move to a cheaper overall tarrif. Recently I checked my existing suppiler and now save about £30 a year becuase I dont get bills through the post and deal with my account online this gives me a 2% discount over the 12 months. If you use a lot of electric you could go for the cheapest cost per KW/H you can find and see what discounts you can get for duel fuel and paying by direct debit. All the above for me in total get me 10% a year off my bills. (Duel Fuel is 6% 2% direct debit and 2% online account)
 
Ecomomy 7 is just 7 hours at ecomomy rate. Those 7 hours can vary from area to area.

Do you not need to push a button to start your washing machine? The timer will turn the power on but won't actually start your machine will it?
 
Usel said:
Do you not need to push a button to start your washing machine? The timer will turn the power on but won't actually start your machine will it?
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Maybe you can start the programme, then cut power and it will resume when power is restored, also those old mechanical dial washers would just keep going afaik.
 
Hope you live on the ground floor and/or have good sound insulation for your neighbours.... Wouldn't want to listen to your washing machine spinning it's little heart out at 1am in the morning :o
 
One thing to check - when I was in a flat with Economy 7, there was actually a dedicated "night" set of wiring which ran from the breaker box, such that the entire section of mains was only supplied at night. Have you checked to see that this doesn't exist anywhere that you could tap into?
 
Makhaira said:
One thing to check - when I was in a flat with Economy 7, there was actually a dedicated "night" set of wiring which ran from the breaker box, such that the entire section of mains was only supplied at night. Have you checked to see that this doesn't exist anywhere that you could tap into?
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The only thing on a separate circuit are the storage heaters!
 
HardwareGeek said:
Maybe you can start the programme, then cut power and it will resume when power is restored, also those old mechanical dial washers would just keep going afaik.
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You set the program and push the ON button on the machine itself to kick it off. Using a timer, i'd just leave the machine 'ON' as it were and let the timer kick the switch on to give the machine electric.
 
Be careful using a timer as they are likely not going to be up to the job as the current drain will be too high for the switch and blow it possibly causing a fire...not what you want when you're soundly asleep in your bed eh?
 
R.O.S.S.I said:
The only thing on a separate circuit are the storage heaters!
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I had storage heaters, only recently got rid of them, but they were the only thing on the Economy 7 circuit.

I don't know if this is how your house is wired, but they were on a separate circuit to the rest of the house and wouldn't get power at all until after midnight.

I don't think economy 7 works outside of this circuit.

I may well be wrong though.
 
Dkore-DeX said:
I had storage heaters, only recently got rid of them, but they were the only thing on the Economy 7 circuit.

I don't know if this is how your house is wired, but they were on a separate circuit to the rest of the house and wouldn't get power at all until after midnight.

I don't think economy 7 works outside of this circuit.

I may well be wrong though.
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Yeh that's what I mean, my storage heaters physically don't allow them to be turned on until after midnight'ish, so I assume they are on the separate circuit.
 
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