WTB: Key for a washing machine

[cidley69]

Does anyone have any of those round keys for pop machines and coin op things?

MY landlord thought they would save some money and instal a coin op on the supposed 'included' washer and dryen in the house we rent.

Does anyone know where a person could find one of these round keys?

[megavolt]

Those keys are actually keyed... it's not just a universal key. What a shitty landlord.

[project240]

Originally posted by megavolt
Those keys are actually keyed... it's not just a universal key. What a shitty landlord.


Unfortunately this is true. Individually keyed. I do service work for Coke so I have access to about 200 or 300 of these. Our apartment has coin operated machines as well... I figured I would try them all... that's about 40 minutes of my life I'll never get back.

[kaput]

.

[cidley69]

so you tried 300 keys and none of them were a match?

wow, that sucks.

i wonder if i could drill a hole in a loonie and tie a string on to it......



any quessed how to defeat a coin-op washer/dryer?

[rip]

You can use those brown coffee stir straws. On the older ones it is quite easy, but on some of the newer ones it can be a little tricky.

Line them up at approx. a 45deg angle with the slot where the coins go in. You can use from 1 to 4 straws depending how many coins are required. Hold them all together pressing firmly while pushing the metal slider piece inward. you will feel the coin slot open and the straws go inward, now press the metal piece all the way in and pull out the straws once you feel the metal slider go through its full range of motion.

Hope that makes some sense.

[civiclvr]

depends.. do u lay the coins down or do they stand up?

[moeman]

any quessed how to defeat a coin-op washer/dryer?

Any guesses as to how long it will be before someone gets evicted and charged for their troubles?

[yellowsnow]

don't u have a contract saying you get this stuff included in rent? just shove that in his face, and if he doesn't agree, then i guess you're hooped

[Mar]

Did you sign a lease? Did it state this stuff was included? Bring it up with your landlord and they'll have no choice but to reverse their decision.

*EDIT - beat to it by 21 minutes!

[khtm]

Originally posted by kaput
Wow I was anxious to move out and live in a rented place for awhile but so far it hasn't happened and stuff like this motivates me to stick it out at home until I can buy a place. Thats bullshit.
Paying $6 a month to do laundry is a bargain compared to trying to pick up chicks at the bar and telling them you still live with your parents ;)

[cidley69]

if only it was just 6 bucks a month, at 2/3 loads a week, that's almost 50 bucks a month.

that shit adds up.

power consumption couldn't be that much, anyone know how much the juice to run a load of laundry would cost?


its the stand up coin kind.

called "Vertical 5" from Greenwald industries,
Brooklyn, NY.
Patent No. 4,502,584.



can someone make me some loonie sized slugs? (lol)

[zimm]

heh. well we used brown stir sticks all teh time in pool machines and worked great. if there is not many people in there i would suggest not doing it though. if you jam little bits of straw in there then they will know you cheated it.

[moeman]

Originally posted by cidley69
if only it was just 6 bucks a month, at 2/3 loads a week, that's almost 50 bucks a month.

that shit adds up.

power consumption couldn't be that much, anyone know how much the juice to run a load of laundry would cost?


its the stand up coin kind.

called "Vertical 5" from Greenwald industries,
Brooklyn, NY.
Patent No. 4,502,584.



can someone make me some loonie sized slugs? (lol)

Well there's the juice to wash the clothes, heat the water and dry the clothes. Then you've got the water bill on top of that. Don't forget about wear and tear on the machines, maintenance, etc.

Question. Do you think you do about as many loads as you would if it were free or do you hold off until you can fill the machine? You probably don't do laundry until it's absolutely necessary, right?

So everybody wins. You pay less in rent than you would otherwise and the landlord saves money on utilities. And there's a lot less waste of electricity, water, detergent, etc because of it.

And if you're that concerned about it, go buy a used set for $250 or so and in a few months you've covered your costs. When you move out you can sell them and get most of it back.

[moeman]

http://forums.beyond.ca/showthread.php?s=&threadid=120842

[Greek Wizard]

So you are looking for a key to save on laundry costs, but when the landlord finds out he gets to keep your security deposit because what you are proposing to do is theft.

Now that said, IF your landlord promised you free washing, then you should talk it over with him.

But something tells me you heard what you wanted and didn't read the fine print.

Do yourself a favor and buy the used laundry set that moeman has linked and stop trying to get stuff for free.

[samo147]

could get a locksmith
they could probably make u a lock

[kaput]

.

[capn_nobeard]

The stir stick idea works. The important thing is if you watch the mechanism when you push in the coin holder you'll see that it closes off. This can potentially pinch off your stir sticks.

It takes a bit of finnesse with some machines :nut:

sometimes its best to use a flattened drinking straw.

[cidley69]

its pretty funny to hear the differing opinions:

from, don't do it its stealing, (paraphrasing here)

to, i think this should work, lol.



i didn't read the fine print when i moved in, but i think haveing a "coin-op wash set-up" should be soumething explicitly stated. kinda underhanded to not mention it straight out.



i am gonna try the straw trick, if that don't work i am gonna try a locksmith, or maybe take the back off the machine and see if i can hotwire it.


i'll still leave some coins monthly in the box, but it seems a bit inflated cost wise. i can't even buy a second hand set up, cuz these coin op ones are right where i would put my own set.





all the input is really appreciated,

cheers beyonders!

[szw]

http://www.whiz-q.com/images/misc/DSCN8145.jpg

[megavolt]

Why leave money in it? If you get it to work just make sure to keep them clean, don't leave any of the soap or anything around and tell the guy you're not using the fucking things, you're taking your clothes to a friend's house to wash.

[ricosuave]

as has been said before, just talk to the guy about it.

if you fuck things up or get caught, the landlord will have the advantage, end of story.

maybe you need to ask yourself why you cant seem to even talk to the guy about this.

there is a line in a song that says "there are 3 sides to every story, yours, mine, and the cold hard truth" - you are all bitching about the landlord, but no one has offered proof that this was misleading, and everyone is offering advice on how to screw him. well, you know what? its shit like this that makes landlords wary, and possible abuse or fraud is probably why he put the coin op thing in in the first place. there are shady landlords out there, but dammit, there are shady tenants who try and screw with people like this too - dont be one of those.

be a man, and talk to him about it. if it was a misunderstanding on your part, buck up or move on.

and cidley69, since you stated that 'you didnt read the fine print' you have no one but yourself to blame. whether or not it was 'explicitly stated', you wouldnt know, because you didnt read the fine print, hell, i wonder if you read it at all!

better yet, why dont you scan your lease agreement and post it so we can see what you missed?

the mentality of this board never ceases to amaze me. props to moeman and greek for keeping it honest, ffs.

rico

[megavolt]

How much does he have it set for? How much do you need to spend to do a load? Cheaper than laundrymat?

What's stupid about this is that it came as a surprise to cidley when he went to do laundry in his new house. If he was told that there is an included washer and dryer he shouldn't have had to sift through the fine-print to find out that it's coin-op, it should have been offered as information up front, since a washer and dryer in a rented property is a pretty good selling point (not if it's coin-op ;)) I suppose it's better than not having a set, but still, the fact that it was a surprise is a shitty part.

All in all, I think if you try to cheat the coin-op, something will go wrong and you'll end up burnt. All that I was saying in my last post is that if you're going to cheat it anyway, why put any money in at all?

[vadeit]

If you are the only tenents, then just unhook his and put a cheap set you buy there. I would imagine he couldn't really say jack if you are the only tenents. Part of renting a house is getting to out your own shit in it.

[frostyda9]

Universal key

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y38/frostyDA9/sledge.jpg