I have a dishwasher that does not open automatically when finished. I can detect when it is finished through a power adapter, but need to open it somehow. Any tips? Is fingerbot strong enough?
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Device on top that detects the “I’m done” ding and pulls the latch/whatever to open the door a touch. Genius, I know.
I’d see if your brand offers that option, and try and retrofit the OEM parts. It’s often the matter of cutting an extra hole or two and wiring it up to your controller. The tub will likely have indentations to make room for the part, even if that model doesn’t include the feature.
This is a whirlpool, Hotpoint, KitchenAid, etc door opener
https://www.hotpoint.co.uk/door-opening-system-j00532596/p
If that’s a dead end, maybe look at a wax motor. They are very cheap, easy to control, compact, and high force. Only problem is, the stroke is only . 25 inches, some up to . 5 inches. There is enough force that you could make a lever.
I was just here to see if anyone has a simple (not battery) idea of how to detect if the dishwasher is open/closed. But I’m happy to read all the other comments.
My recommendation is to read the manual, our dishwasher has this function. But I needed to enable it, and it doesn’t by default work in all modes. Maybe it’s good to check?
Is the end goal to know if your dishwasher has finished? If so, a smart plug with power monitoring could tell you that.
Are dishwashers meant to do this? I’ve never known one to open when done.
This is something my mother used to do as well. When the machine was finished she opened the door and let it vent. I asked the guy installing our machine some years ago and he told me that in newer machines that won’t be necessary and could even disable the integrated venting mechanism. But of course this depends on your machine…
Modern dishwashers do this. This is done to save energy. In the old days, dishwashers just heated stuff really hot to force evaporation of surface water.
Modern dishwashers can do this too, but there is an option to just open the door and let them dry naturally. This is a longer process, but if you do like me and program it at midnight… Then it has plenty of time to dry up fine.
My dishwasher does that. On the Eco cycle it opens the four at the end of the cycle to let it dry
@paraphrand
My mothers Miele does it.
If your device is not quite strong enough, a small spring that’s too weak to open the door on its own could help.
If you access to the side, then a form of lever could provide mechanical advantage (just check what the fulcrum rests on or you might dent something).
If you aren’t concerned with reusability, dynamite is fairly effective at opening doors.
You can always couple the dynamite trigger with the automatic ordering of a new dishwasher.
Do you think you could make an automatic warranty claim for the door not being strong enough for standard use?
Depends. This would be one of those weird automations taking forever to debug, because they only work once or twice, and then fail the rest of the time.
I could imagine attaching a motorised pulley contraption mounted on one (or both) sides of the dishwasher. When you close the door you clip the pulley onto the door, and when it finishes the motor pushes forward and the door pops open.
How much force does it take to open your dish washer? The one we have at work requires you to yank hard to open it so I doubt anything would do it. But if it’s a super soft button press then maybe.
Define “finished”. Most newer washers have an indicator light that says when it’s done. Older ones say they are done, but rely on an extended period of time AFTER the actual cycles run to allow the steam and heat to dissipate and help dry out the inside.
If you just want to open it after a specific amount of time without finding a way to integrate a sensor into the mix, I bet you could make this work if you mount it right against the door to push it open. https://www.switch-bot.com/products/switchbot-bot
Not sure what kind of dishwasher we’re talking about, but I have a SwitchBot and it’s made to push buttons: it wouldn’t be anywhere near powerful enough to open a dishwasher (as I know them)
It says it supports up to 4.8 grams of force. More than enough to pop a lid or door open. Other option is a solenoid relay that definitely will, but that’s not going to fit very cleanly behind a dishwasher and cabinet setup.
what kind of dishwasher takes less than 2 kilos of force to open?
Yeah, mine (that I didn’t scientifically measure but….) requires a hell of an effort to pull open using only my pinky. Obviously I don’t expect that mine is the only model on the market XD but that’s what I know
An esp controlling a linear actuator to either push the door open, or push against the latch locking it closed, or both.
Is it just a simple button that releases the door and gravity can take over? If that’s the case, just something that can push that in and let the door fall should be perfect.
Could be as simple as an electric motor from a toy and a rigid bar attached to it it to push against the button if you wanna DIY.
