LFT114 Dishwasher

athlonoc · Post by **athlonoc** » Tue Nov 30, 2021 8:19 am

Hi,
I hope it's the right forum as I wasn't sure whether to post in the electrical or plumbing

It's an old integrated dishwasher with limited program control. I wanted to power save and put this dishwasher on at night to save energy. However the on / off button is an electrical push switch that doesn't remain down when pushed on or off.
When I attach the plug from the dishwasher to the timer socket providing power to the dishwasher there doesn't appear any way of starting the machine without physically pushing the on / off button on the dishwasher.

The on/off switch needs to physically be pushed when power is turned on!

Anyone know of a workaround which of course I accept isn't just a problem of this dishwasher, but any that don't have built in timers or delays?

Thank you
Lee

ericmark · Post by **ericmark** » Tue Nov 30, 2021 10:08 am

I out of interest put an energy meter on mine, as some cycles take 3 hours, rather surprised how little power it used, they don't hold much water and the main use of energy is heating the water, did try connecting to hot instead of cold, but uses that little water the water never ran hot anyway. A while ago but seemed to remember something like 20p a wash, so is it worth it.

The default off is a safety feature, washers without it likely have other safety features to replace it.

athlonoc · Post by **athlonoc** » Tue Nov 30, 2021 10:55 am

Hi Eric,

Thank you for the reply which of course all makes sense.
I suppose I was thinking that every day I use a dishwasher that for us costs 30p per wash on the eco cycle.
10p rather than 30p using the night time tariff of 5p per kW would eventually make for a saving of about £70 per year on just one device. Anyway, I expected there would be little resolution but thought it was worth a shout.

Thanks again for replying.

dewaltdisney · Post by **dewaltdisney** » Tue Nov 30, 2021 12:05 pm

I used to run our dishwasher last thing at night as I went up to bed to get the night rate. Then I realised that BST made it 1.00am when the cheap rate clicked in during summer so I was missing the cheap rate. Added to that, I heard of two cases where the DW went wrong and steamed the kitchens out by running all night. I just flip it on now when ready.

DWD

Chippo1 · Post by **Chippo1** » Tue Nov 30, 2021 6:41 pm

Tricky can’t recommend what to do , would involve a modification to the dishwasher to achieve what is required as you have found out external switching doesn’t work, so only real answer one can give is buy a new machine that has a timer facility , or look on free cycle for one for free !

We use the tiers on our washing machine and dw to use our lower out of hours tarif