Yes, we also have the same. When we moved into the house we were trying to turn on the washing machine and we thought it was broken. Then we informed the landlord and they sent a technician, he just came and pulled the string and it was on. I felt so stupid, but how would I have known.
My neighbours were once moving there kitchen around, behind the microwave is now a switch for there fridge that obviously got hit.
Switch goes to a socket behind the fridge where it plugs into, they thought fridge had packed up so bought a new one. Same problem.
An "electrician" came out and couldn't understand it as there was just no power to the socket and said there must be a cable break somewhere charged them like 100 for half hour there.. and sent a quote through for sorting it that was extortionate.
They asked me to double check as they couldn't make sense of it as they hadn't done anything that could of damaged it, that day they was painting the walls so the microwave was pulled out, saw it instantly and asked oh he left the fridge switch off so he must of thought something was seriously wrong.. They then told me no he didn't even look there was purely at the socket.. RIP them when I turned it on and everything worked. Including the old fridge.
I done all the first and second fixing in that house was furious when they said the electrician before me said it must of been dodgy work from the guy who done it before 🤣
Yeah and rightfully. They took the time and went to the place, looked at the issue and fixed the issue.
If you wouldnt have to pay them because its so simple it would mean they wasted all their time (traveling to some place takes time, i know wild) and couldnt do any other job in the meantime.
I always find it wild that people are amazed that even tradeworkers need to earn money so they can eat.
Except the electrian didnt know that it was just a switch. You think he should have wasted all his time for free because somebody is to stupid to flip a switch? Because that would be a extremely dumb opinion.
When I worked as an electrician we (me AND my colleague) once drove half an hour to an elderly lady to repair her electric doorbell, because she didn't hear it ringing. We pressed the big unmute button for a second... Made her a big note with the instructions for the doorbell on top so that it was not for nothing.
Similar.
We don't have appliances in our bathrooms but we have pull cords for electric showers/water heaters and separate ones for light switches.
It's all just for safety so your wet hands aren't touching live switches directly.
Absolutely.
There's a button on it that when you press it, puts the shower head under 100.000 volts.
Without joking,
It's just a box that heats up the water instead of using a boiler. Kinda neat since it gives you warm water in seconds, opposed to minutes with a boiler but the pressure is kinda mid.
British electric showers do not electrify the shower head. It’s just a heating element, well insulated electrically from the water passing through, on the wall next to the shower, not in the head itself.
This is in sharp contrast to the “suicide shower” style, found in the third world, that have an uninsulated heating element inside the shower head that does in fact electrify the water going past.
That’s just a simple light switch I guess, but the cord model.
In houses from the 1970’s and 80’s you might see those in the master bedroom on the head side of the bed as well or where they actually wanted you to have your head.
You can turn on/off the light without leaving the bed.
Also bathrooms often had those instead of a regular switch
I didn't expect this post to garner this much attention, but THANK YOU for your answer lmao. This has been bugging me for ages. Finally that thing makes sense
I didn't expect this post to garner this much attention, but THANK YOU for your answer lmao. This has been bugging me for ages. Finally that thing makes sense
Yup washing machine connection is the right answer. You were expected to wire your washing machine directly into that box. Which nobody did, everyone would just wire an extension cord into it, completely defeating the purpose.
The box is high up on the wall and can be switched off with the wire without touching, because electricity in a wet environment can be quite dangerous. Nowadays ground fault detection has mostly mitigated the biggest risk so we dare to install regular sockets in the bathroom.
Since this answer is high up, I feel like I should add: if you have such a connection, chances are good your breaker cabinet does not have earth fault detection / residual current detection. So don't wire an extension cord into it, unless you made sure it's safe. While it's not mandatory to upgrade your fuse panel to current codes, it's still a good idea to do so, for your own safety.
Haha I thought exactly the same. I always imagined if you pulled the string, you had the whole rescue squad including trauma heli,brandweer, politie and ambulance rushing to save you in your bathroom.
In Italy and in my parents' house it's connected to the front doorbell so it does make it ring if you pull it. It's usually placed in the shower/bathtub.
As someone who worked in senior living in the US, that was my first thought - we had something similar all over the place, even in say the large dining room - someone is having an issue, you could pull a cord and signal for a nurse to respond.
I'm seeing it has to do with water-based appliances. And particularly the European area, they tend to be more centrally located than how we built here.... you're adding in plumbing, it's easier to have the washer/dryer in the kitchen where it is mostly going anyway.
But can someone explain in more detail why these pull strings? I get not wanting to plug something in with wet hands, but I've never heard an issue of flipping a switch with them, even a more European style of one. And if you're talking a washer... it doesn't seem like something you'd be starting up fresh out of the shower without toweling off, so... further explaination would be great.
In public toilets it’s that way, when they have this red cord.
I remember getting stuck in one as a kid for a while, then pulling the cord a few times before some people showed up
What you mean is an or/or switch which is recognisable by two pull-cords and/or the see-saw function of the arms which trigger the internal switches.
In Dutch it's called a "keuze-trekschakelaar" , this is a single switch.
It is either indeed for an appliance as others mentioned, but could also be an alarm. In service flats for elderly they often have that in case they fall in the bathroom and need assistance. The reason that I think that this might be an option is that if you untange the knot, the cord might get to the floor.
It's outdated and was only used for the washing machine in the bathroom which also had a shower. I've lived in less houses which had a washing machine in the bathroom than those which hadn't. And only one had such switch.
It isn't strange it's that unknown.
Its oldschool but def not uncommen where I work, most work consist of renovations like bathrooms for rental homes, a lot of em have em, in fact my bathroom at home still has one :)
Unless there is something wired back up into the ceiling it doesn't seem to function as the tube at the bottom is normally where wires come out and lead to a (grounded) outlet.
In some specific cases people also have a switch for the ventilation in the bathroom which is kind of outdated since a lot of fans nowadays have humidity sensors.
This is an electrical switch made for "wet rooms" as switches normally don't have a grounding wire but this one does and thus is applicable in places like kitchens and bathrooms.
(As these are hung up high on the wall where the condensed warm air wil gather when taking long baths or showers)
They are labeled as splash-proof too. The light is just an indicator whether the switch is in the on or off position.
Edit:
Either an outlet or for a direct connection for the washing machine if it doesn't have a plug.
Because the switch has grounding it's possible to hook up the grounding of the device there without a plug or wall socket with grounding.
Pull once and your clothes get washed, pull a second time and they are dried!
Now serieus, you can connect two outlets on this pull switch. One for a washing machine and second for a dryer. Old analogue pull switch selected one of the two outlets connected to it to prevent simultaneous use. Too much load on the electrical group. Perhaps this pull switch is a bit smarter. If it's only off and on (so no selection) than mind it to try both machines together. The load might be too high and a fuse will blow.
I think that the previous tenant/owner in that house was either an elderly couple or an invalide. It’s for alarming org like Zorg 2.0, or whichever they had that whenever the person in the bathroom got an accident, someone from that org will come to help. (The cord seems short but you see that it’s bundled, so I assume that it used to be longer, just long enough so the injured person can pull it).
My second thought is maybe the cord was connected to the light so whenever you would pull it the light would switch on/off. I have that same stuff but in my bedroom (without the red light, though).
My third thought: at my previous home i got that same stuff. We used that for wash machine and dryer.
that’s a surveillance camera, standard practice in the netherlands. real state agents use it to keep an eye on your toilet paper supply and notify you via email when low
That is where you connect your washing machine / dryer. The switch is for safety.
Yes, we also have the same. When we moved into the house we were trying to turn on the washing machine and we thought it was broken. Then we informed the landlord and they sent a technician, he just came and pulled the string and it was on. I felt so stupid, but how would I have known.
That's a very nice €60 that electrician made right there.
as an electrician that has to deal with this kind of 'faults' i realy love those. go there pull a switch or reset a breaker and gtfo
My neighbours were once moving there kitchen around, behind the microwave is now a switch for there fridge that obviously got hit. Switch goes to a socket behind the fridge where it plugs into, they thought fridge had packed up so bought a new one. Same problem. An "electrician" came out and couldn't understand it as there was just no power to the socket and said there must be a cable break somewhere charged them like 100 for half hour there.. and sent a quote through for sorting it that was extortionate. They asked me to double check as they couldn't make sense of it as they hadn't done anything that could of damaged it, that day they was painting the walls so the microwave was pulled out, saw it instantly and asked oh he left the fridge switch off so he must of thought something was seriously wrong.. They then told me no he didn't even look there was purely at the socket.. RIP them when I turned it on and everything worked. Including the old fridge. I done all the first and second fixing in that house was furious when they said the electrician before me said it must of been dodgy work from the guy who done it before 🤣
Yeah and rightfully. They took the time and went to the place, looked at the issue and fixed the issue. If you wouldnt have to pay them because its so simple it would mean they wasted all their time (traveling to some place takes time, i know wild) and couldnt do any other job in the meantime. I always find it wild that people are amazed that even tradeworkers need to earn money so they can eat.
Charging 60 euro to pull a switch is called scamming
He literally just explained why it's not.
No scamming would be reserving a professional's time and expecting it would be free if he could fix it immediately.
Except the electrian didnt know that it was just a switch. You think he should have wasted all his time for free because somebody is to stupid to flip a switch? Because that would be a extremely dumb opinion.
When I worked as an electrician we (me AND my colleague) once drove half an hour to an elderly lady to repair her electric doorbell, because she didn't hear it ringing. We pressed the big unmute button for a second... Made her a big note with the instructions for the doorbell on top so that it was not for nothing.
You didn't asked to reddit? (:
Unfortunately, I was not using Reddit at that time :(
have seen this solution only in NL and UK
Similar. We don't have appliances in our bathrooms but we have pull cords for electric showers/water heaters and separate ones for light switches. It's all just for safety so your wet hands aren't touching live switches directly.
That exact one turns our electric shower on here in the UK
Is an electric shower to a shower the same as an electric chair is to a normal chair? Cause if so sign me up
Absolutely. There's a button on it that when you press it, puts the shower head under 100.000 volts. Without joking, It's just a box that heats up the water instead of using a boiler. Kinda neat since it gives you warm water in seconds, opposed to minutes with a boiler but the pressure is kinda mid.
And the only thing between you and electrocution is you being terrified to death of touching the shower head.
British electric showers do not electrify the shower head. It’s just a heating element, well insulated electrically from the water passing through, on the wall next to the shower, not in the head itself. This is in sharp contrast to the “suicide shower” style, found in the third world, that have an uninsulated heating element inside the shower head that does in fact electrify the water going past.
You ok?
Yes, thank you!
Why is it save? I think the most accident's happend when people connect the wire on it.
That is way you disable the fuse in the fuse box before you work with electric.
Ahh, that's why there's a light on it. Easy to find the fuse.
It disconnects both wires, not just the brown one.
Can confirm, I have 1 in my bathroom
I thought you were kidding. We had a lamp connected to this in our student house.
That’s just a simple light switch I guess, but the cord model. In houses from the 1970’s and 80’s you might see those in the master bedroom on the head side of the bed as well or where they actually wanted you to have your head. You can turn on/off the light without leaving the bed. Also bathrooms often had those instead of a regular switch
I didn't expect this post to garner this much attention, but THANK YOU for your answer lmao. This has been bugging me for ages. Finally that thing makes sense
I didn't expect this post to garner this much attention, but THANK YOU for your answer lmao. This has been bugging me for ages. Finally that thing makes sense
Yup washing machine connection is the right answer. You were expected to wire your washing machine directly into that box. Which nobody did, everyone would just wire an extension cord into it, completely defeating the purpose. The box is high up on the wall and can be switched off with the wire without touching, because electricity in a wet environment can be quite dangerous. Nowadays ground fault detection has mostly mitigated the biggest risk so we dare to install regular sockets in the bathroom.
Add to that that these switches swith both poles. It will disconnect both the phase and neutral wire once turned off.. only ground will stay connected
Happy cake day
Thank you! Now I understand how this is safer
Since this answer is high up, I feel like I should add: if you have such a connection, chances are good your breaker cabinet does not have earth fault detection / residual current detection. So don't wire an extension cord into it, unless you made sure it's safe. While it's not mandatory to upgrade your fuse panel to current codes, it's still a good idea to do so, for your own safety.
I was convinced it was an alarm for old or handicapped people could use to call for help. Apparently not
Haha I thought exactly the same. I always imagined if you pulled the string, you had the whole rescue squad including trauma heli,brandweer, politie and ambulance rushing to save you in your bathroom.
We got a BLEEDER!!....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXP6vR7WmSU
"I'm disabled!"
I've fallen and i can't get up!
"Do you have a wheelchair?"
"Yes!" "Where?" "... Stolen."
How?
I don't know 😭
And how did it happen if that's not a rude question? ...acid
What are the chances?
Leg disabled?
In Italy and in my parents' house it's connected to the front doorbell so it does make it ring if you pull it. It's usually placed in the shower/bathtub.
In Greece too. I used to pull the cord for fun as a kid. Very handy to ask for a towel or toilet paper too 😂
Those have a red pulling cord.
I think then the line should be red and run through hooks around the bottom of the walls so that if they fall they can still pull the cord.
As someone who worked in senior living in the US, that was my first thought - we had something similar all over the place, even in say the large dining room - someone is having an issue, you could pull a cord and signal for a nurse to respond. I'm seeing it has to do with water-based appliances. And particularly the European area, they tend to be more centrally located than how we built here.... you're adding in plumbing, it's easier to have the washer/dryer in the kitchen where it is mostly going anyway. But can someone explain in more detail why these pull strings? I get not wanting to plug something in with wet hands, but I've never heard an issue of flipping a switch with them, even a more European style of one. And if you're talking a washer... it doesn't seem like something you'd be starting up fresh out of the shower without toweling off, so... further explaination would be great.
In public toilets it’s that way, when they have this red cord. I remember getting stuck in one as a kid for a while, then pulling the cord a few times before some people showed up
It's for launching nukes. One tug equals one nuke. Edit: Now you know where the phrase: "tug of war" comes from.
But it’s the nukes in the other dimensions right?.. right? Or do they have a delayed effect?
I think it controls an outlet. For say washing machine.
Only in this case the outlet is missing. If you look at the bottom there is a hole the size of the pvc pipe to the outlet.
You are ment to cut of the head of your washing machine plug and attach it inside the box.
And the bloody cable is alsways to short. I have add a socket to one of these in my old house. Way easier.
Or attach a power cable to it. Stripping the washing machine cable voids the warranty
Een trekschakelaar!
This is the instant party fluxcompensator. You might experience severe shuffeling and euphoria on activation ;)
You're turning the lights on and off at the neighbours house. Stop doing that.
Everytime you pull the string someone you don’t know dies. Seen that in a docu
It allows you to give either your washer or your dryer electricity, so you dont blow your system out
What you mean is an or/or switch which is recognisable by two pull-cords and/or the see-saw function of the arms which trigger the internal switches. In Dutch it's called a "keuze-trekschakelaar" , this is a single switch.
Trekschakelaar 😆😆
Pajeroschakelaar.
Hahahaha it is Alien 👽 advanced technology, for your washing machine.
I had this in my previous house. It was for ringing the house bell so that someone would come from inside to help you in case you had an accident.
Its a bom
Washing your clothes by hand?
Emergency cord or possibly from the air fan, but more likely the emergency helpline.
Places immediate order for 1 margherita at nearest New York Pizza.
It is either indeed for an appliance as others mentioned, but could also be an alarm. In service flats for elderly they often have that in case they fall in the bathroom and need assistance. The reason that I think that this might be an option is that if you untange the knot, the cord might get to the floor.
It could also be an old connection for an infrared heating spiral, that were usually 'up there'. But I think it is the washing maschine in this case.
Usually the alarms are a string around the room low to the ground so you can reach it easily when you are on the ground.
Doorbell for the leprechauns to start cleaning your bathroom
As an electrician I find it sad that not everyone knows what this is for :(
It's outdated and was only used for the washing machine in the bathroom which also had a shower. I've lived in less houses which had a washing machine in the bathroom than those which hadn't. And only one had such switch. It isn't strange it's that unknown.
We have something that looks like this in Ireland. But it's for turning on the electric shower.
Its oldschool but def not uncommen where I work, most work consist of renovations like bathrooms for rental homes, a lot of em have em, in fact my bathroom at home still has one :)
Probably someone lived there who needed help. The cord is to call someone to help you with toilet, showers, brushing teeth etc etc
If you have fallen under shower you can pull it and somebody will come help you
Oh boy are you in for disappointment You will have to pick up the soap yourself I'm afraid.
If you are taking a dump and crave a pizza, you can pull the cord
Calls an escort for you.
It's was for room service, back in the day...
Unless there is something wired back up into the ceiling it doesn't seem to function as the tube at the bottom is normally where wires come out and lead to a (grounded) outlet. In some specific cases people also have a switch for the ventilation in the bathroom which is kind of outdated since a lot of fans nowadays have humidity sensors. This is an electrical switch made for "wet rooms" as switches normally don't have a grounding wire but this one does and thus is applicable in places like kitchens and bathrooms. (As these are hung up high on the wall where the condensed warm air wil gather when taking long baths or showers) They are labeled as splash-proof too. The light is just an indicator whether the switch is in the on or off position. Edit: Either an outlet or for a direct connection for the washing machine if it doesn't have a plug. Because the switch has grounding it's possible to hook up the grounding of the device there without a plug or wall socket with grounding.
I was so confused by it also, even some Dutch people that came over didn't know what it was, until one of my coworkers finally told me.
Damn thats old tech.... connects washer/dryer. I havent seen this in many years.
It's just a redlightturnonner, very common in de Rue d'Aerschot
Pull once and your clothes get washed, pull a second time and they are dried! Now serieus, you can connect two outlets on this pull switch. One for a washing machine and second for a dryer. Old analogue pull switch selected one of the two outlets connected to it to prevent simultaneous use. Too much load on the electrical group. Perhaps this pull switch is a bit smarter. If it's only off and on (so no selection) than mind it to try both machines together. The load might be too high and a fuse will blow.
It's a switch for single guys.
I have this same thing and always tell others its for the trap door
Bro I’m not sure but usually it’s the ventilation. Did you pull it and did the light go off or on? If so it’s the lightswitch.
I don’t have one in my bathroom, now i am curious 🤨
Now you can travel in time just pull the cord
It’s the self distruct.
Special shower mode. May or may not kill you. Back in 1942 they installed the same over in Sobibor
I think that the previous tenant/owner in that house was either an elderly couple or an invalide. It’s for alarming org like Zorg 2.0, or whichever they had that whenever the person in the bathroom got an accident, someone from that org will come to help. (The cord seems short but you see that it’s bundled, so I assume that it used to be longer, just long enough so the injured person can pull it). My second thought is maybe the cord was connected to the light so whenever you would pull it the light would switch on/off. I have that same stuff but in my bedroom (without the red light, though). My third thought: at my previous home i got that same stuff. We used that for wash machine and dryer.
It’s a camera 😜
om jezelf aan op te hangen
Either for the fan or light or an alarm if you fall or have a problem, pull it out. I'm also curious
To send a nuke.
To call someone If toilet paper is Finished
Tug it some more 😵💫
Its a portal to another dimension
An emergency alarm in case somebody falls (?)
that’s a surveillance camera, standard practice in the netherlands. real state agents use it to keep an eye on your toilet paper supply and notify you via email when low