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Comment by logifail | Hacker News Reader

> it'll start beeping

Speaking of beeping, why is it so hard to completely disable the "I'm finished" beep on household devices?

My microwave beeps, incessantly.

My dishwasher beeps, four times, when it's finished. Especially nice when this happens after midnight when everyone is sleeping.

My washing machine beeps, for the best part of 10 mins, when it's finished. Also nice when this happens in the wee small hours.

My tumble dryer - praise the Lord - has a function to disable its beeping. The beeping got disabled within minutes of it being installed.

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The thing that really bothers me is that the amount of beeping is totally not linked to the urgency of the thing. For instance,

My microwave beeps for a solid 10 seconds every minute after a run. In this condition, it is perfectly safe no matter what.

My oven beeps exactly 1 time when preheated, similar to how FedEx and UPS notify upon package delivery. In this condition, it could burn my house down if left unattended. There are no subsequent beeps.

>it could burn my house down if left unattended

Really? I have a hard time imagining how heating elements in a steel box is going to burn your house down.

Imagine an in-wall oven that requires the use of an active blower to keep the surrounding area from getting too hot.

I've also had an electric oven where the element was damaged and started melting/deforming. Not sure how far this would have gone if left alone.

https://www.hunker.com/12548882/common-causes-of-oven-fires

Exactly, my microwave plays this cute little song for about 3 seconds that stopped being cute after the second time hearing it. But if you don't open the door within ~30 seconds or so, it plays its song again. It does this for a long while before giving up. Customer support, when asked if there was a way to disable it that was missed, said it's a "safety feature" and therefore cannot be disabled.

> In this condition, it could burn my house down

You’re pre-heating your oven, so it’s empty. There are no realistic circumstances where an empty oven could burn your house down simply by being on at a preset temperature.

> You’re pre-heating your oven, so it’s empty.

This is a big assumption. A lot of people, myself included, store pots and pans in the oven when it's not in use. I frequently forget to remove them before preheating.

In my case the pan that I keep in there is made of cast iron, so there really isn't anything that can go wrong. But I would bet good money that there are people out there who keep wooden handled pots and pans in the oven. Is it a bad idea? Absolutely. But it's a realistic scenario.

Even if oven fires aren't likely, it's definitely weird that my microwave will beep every minute until you open the door just in case you forget you need to eat to live, and my oven will happily run for hours (days?) and doesn't seem to remind you about how you might be accidentally incinerating something, it seems like a beep every hour (with a button to mute it) wouldn't be unappreciated.

Although I guess if it's not a safety thing, the cost of the extra design might be more than I'd expect to save on my electric bill from the once a year or less I leave it on overnight by mistake.

My microwave oven makes not 1, not 2, not 3, ... but 6 beeps when it's done. I hated the thing. No way to disable it. So I ended up opening the damn thing, find the tiny speaker and unsolder its wires ([1], [2])

My Instant Pot does the same thing, but I only use it in the evening, so not so much of a big deal as the microwave oven.

[1] Before: https://i.imgur.com/xuyQJwL.jpg

[2] After: https://i.imgur.com/ZwX8zWs.jpg

I believe the instant pot does have some way to turn off the sounds with config. I managed to turn the beeps off with some magic combination of button presses.

I have an old model. I will look into it. Thanks for the suggestion.

Found it.

Sound Off: When in Standby, press and hold − button until display indicates SOFF [1]

[1] https://www.instapots.com/disable-instant-pot-beeping/

Bad audio design. Beeps should be reserved for errors. Success should be indicated by a happy chime.

But most of all, it is being cheap and using a piezeoelectric buzzer driven on/off instead of a speaker driven by a small routine that would produce a pleasant sound.

Microwave ovens used to sound a bell when they were done, back when timers were mechanical.

"...a happy chime", would piss me off equally as much.

> My washing machine beeps, for the best part of 10 mins, when it's finished. Also nice when this happens in the wee small hours.

My washing machine loudly plays a lengthy fecking song when it's finished!

I do wish that, at the least, there was a way to reduce the volume of all these beeping things...

That would be Die Forelle [0] by schubert - it's a song about a trout. Now you can think of trout every time it happens.

[0] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=C1gbHYqdPnk

That's the one!

Had no idea it was about a trout of all things, or indeed why they chose such a song?!

> My washing machine loudly plays a lengthy fecking song when it's finished!

Let me guess... one of the big Korean manufacturers? Seems to be popular over there for some reason.

Fortunately, on my LG, you can turn it off - but there's no middle ground: it's either a 30 second tune or complete silence.

Yep, it's Samsung. We purchased a more expensive machine, expecting it would be better quality and last longer... it's been a terrible purchase though, we've had nothing but trouble with it. Won't be buying Samsung again.

> My tumble dryer - praise the Lord - has a function to disable its beeping

I need this! Ours beeps when it's done, then starts up again for a couple of minutes, beeps again... repeat ad nauseam. Yes, I KNOW YOU'RE FINISHED!

> My microwave beeps, incessantly.

When my old microwave (which emitted 4 long beeps when finished) broken down, I specifically looked for an unit with:

- knobs, ie. no buttons (and especially no touch buttons!)

- shortest possible 'cooking finished' bell

I managed to find one that I like but it wasn't easy.

Please share the brand if you see this! <3

As many have mentioned, microwaves are the ones I get the least. What is the urgency for opening the damn thing when it is done!?

For dishwashers, we now have one that just opens by itself when it is done (to dry) - no beeping or anything. Maybe a bit hyperbolic, but it was quite a life changer!

My washine machine never stops beeping. Ever!

It will beep FOREVER untill you turn it off. This should be a crime.

And the funny thing is how some people will be insistent they like the beeping! (usually the same ones with the memory span of a goldfish but I digres...)

Of course, the best way is to make it configurable, but surely.

Smart sockets.

Plug through the device and when it's done, shout at Mycroft (or other spyware DA) to power it off.

>My washing machine beeps, for the best part of 10 mins, when it's finished. Also nice when this happens in the wee small hours.

Hmmm? So it annoys you if it beeps at those times, but not when it RUNS at those times? I'm confused...

> So it annoys you if it beeps at those times, but not when it RUNS at those times? I'm confused...

Utility room is a long way from the bedroom, and the utility room door fits well.

As long as you don't select a high-speed spin cycle the washing machine is more or less inaudible from the bedroom.

The beeper, however, isn't inaudible, especially at night.

Great design choice to make the beeper the loudest part of the device ... and then make it unmuteable. Yes, we did once ask the Siemens repair guy during a service visit.

I have some friends that need white noise to sleep, and the sound of appliances gives them some of the same feel. Until it beeps. Then they clench their teeth and aggressively finds the nearest pillow to press down over their ears.

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