Washing machines. Specifically in my case the ZWD81663NW by Zanussi.
If you are a fellow owner. You will know that everything associated with it has to be followed by a painfully shrill response from a piezo buzzer. The din is annoying enough during the day, but anyone making use of economy seven has to have the delight of it announcing itself at the top of its lungs in the small hours of the morning. It’s shrill, deftly cries calling out in the middle of the night, with all the decorum of a rabid blood hound incensed by the light of the full moon.
Disabling the Buzzer
I am sure that someone will likely point out that if I had bothered to look in the manual,I would have found it in black and white. I am however in IT. We do not do that.
I was moments away from attacking it with a screw driver, but decided to randomly splurge buttons to see if there was a ‘secret’ combination to get it to do what I wanted.
It turns out that there is.
- Turn the machine programme dial to any on setting (e.g. onto ‘Cotton‘)
- Simultaneously hold down the ‘AutoDry‘ and ‘Extra Rinse‘ buttons for 3 seconds. The machine will make a semi-depressed low pitch beep and fall silent.
- Turn the programme dial back to ‘off‘
The piezo buzzer is now disabled. This disables both the programme completion alarm and the auditory responses to the pressing of buttons.
If you wish to re-enable the buzzer, simply repeat the process.