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Comment by vinhboy | Hacker News Reader

Yup, I've had one of those light switch + disposal switch combo myself. Who thought that was a good idea?

Why can't you just label the switches, though? A couple strips of paper and tape are all you need. (Of course, the fact that such a fix is necessary does confirm that something is wrong with the design.)

How often do you read a label before switching on a light? I work at a building that has a big panel of them, and I still just flip them on and off until it looks right rather than read the label.

When it's a matter of handed-or-maimed, don't rely on a label!

I wouldn't even say that it confirms a problem with the design, just that it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to have the thing labeled in the first place.

If his sole reason for disliking this particular interface was that he couldn't remember which switch was which, I too am quite surprised that his first thought was to have a new countertop switch installed rather than stick a label on it or grab a sharpie.

Or put a switch guard [1] on one of the two switches. I've done this in three spots in my house. The guard goes over the switch which is less used.

[1] http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDi...

Tangential anecdote - someone in my office went label mad mid last year. I made the observation that anybody who needed a label to know that the only light switch in the meeting room was, indeed, the light switch for the meeting room, was too dumb to benefit from meeting with us anyway.

My kitchen has a switch on a little stub of a wall, the other side of which is part of the living room. The living-room-side switch controls the kitchen lights, and vice-versa. It makes sense when you realize that you can use them to do a sort of "airlock" process, turning on the light in the room ahead of you, entering it, then turning around and switching off the lights in the room behind you.

I lived in that house for 6 years and until the day I moved out was still turning on the damn light instead of the disposal.

I don't get it. I've had that at several living places. The one closest to the sink is the disposal, the others are lights.

It all depends on your electrician. Mine is exactly the opposite.

I haven't thought about it much, but it occurs to me after reading that post that garbage disposers might best be operated with a footpedal.

I'd rather not have electrical connections on the floor near a sink. Yes, I know that the garbage disposal has power, but it's not at a local minima.

I'd rather the powered finger chipper wasn't that easily turned on. Personally I go for a switch with one of those nifty red covers.

Why so much engineering? A footpedal introduces an element of accidental turning on why the hands are dangerously close to the blades. How about instead a labelmaker? Or a convention, say red switches mean garbage disposal, closest to the sink, etc.

Mostly I think a big point here is why everyone thinks of the residential power switches as strictly for lights? The are other things I turn on with "light-switches". These include: ceiling fans, wall sockets, vent fans and all power to my garage. I have never thought of this as unexpected, and no guest at my house has ever complained that I should take the fans off of 'lights only' switches.

I wasn't so much interested in differentiating the switches as I was in eliminating the need to touch a switch using dirty hands, especially when I have been preparing raw meat.

I usually end up washing my hands a half dozen times while preparing food just to avoid spreading bacteria to switches, faucets, and surfaces. I've had food poisoning a couple of times (from restaurants), so I might be a bit germophobic. :)

Anyway, as several of you have pointed out, the possibilty of spurious activation is a real safety concern, so bad idea.

That convention alone didn't keep my kids from accidentally turning on the disposal. I replaced the light switches with ones that glow when off, and left the disposal switch normal. Nobody has turned on the disposal by accident since.

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