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.
Have you considered a mechanical timer? After a quick search I found this model in particular. The description says that it can handle up to 96 on/off-cycles with 15 minute incements.
In your case it would be used the following way: Before you start the washing machine you need to set up the timer, so that it will switch off after the washing program cyle completed, i.e. the washing cycle lasts 2 h 30 min - you need to set the timer to 2 h 45 min (adding some tolerance)
The disadvantage would be that the timer had to be set up everytime before you use the washing machine - or you have to wash always at the same time (which probably will be impractical). Alternatively you just could unplug the power cord after using the washing machine, saving the effort to buy a timer.
Sorry I just... don't think this is going to work.
This type of timer would be so fiddly to configure every time. It would also turn the power back on at the same time the next day.
Also I'm not usually standing around ready to turn the power off when the cycle finishes.
What about a WiFi connected smart outlet? It can be voice controlled or controlled from a phone or turned on at the outlet. You can set just a "run timer" (from the time I turn it on, run 2.5 hours) without it repeating.
AND if you need to make sure it's off at any point, just check your phone.
TP Link Kasa outlets can run for 23 hours and 59 minutes at a time.