CJ7, I had the same problem ( identically ) with my Mom, who was over 100. Actually she was a little worse because not only couldn't she remember not to monkey with the yard light switch, she couldn't remember which switch it was. She would want the inside hall light on, and goof up the yard light. To make it worse, the yard light was on a 3-way circuit, so the position of the switch in the hall depended on what she did to the kitchen switch.
I bought a couple of guards at Home Depot, the covered the switch handles. They were domed, but one side was open, so you can still use the switch if you need to. That worked great for her....and me.
JBP
.
That is great!
I purchased a similar thing to the switch guards you are talking about along time ago for my fathers house to install on his furnace shut off switch that is mounted in the stairwell going down to his basement.
He would forget that it was the switch for shutting off the furnace, and think it was for the lights, even though the light switch is installed inside the kitchen near the door to go downstairs!
He was constantly turning his furnace off thinking it was the lights!!!
And it wasn't only him who was doing this. Just about every person who came to his house that was over the age of 80 would do this!!!!!!!
OMG, what a nightmare. My dad would call me up at 2:00 am in the morning in the winter and say that his house was freezing, and he didn't know what to do.
First thing I would say is, Dad, go and check to see if you turned off the switch in the basement stairs. Remember dad, that one is for the furnace.
He would hang up, and two minutes later he would call back and say he could hear the furnace running.
This went on for along time until I found some guards that are basically a box that mounts over the light switch using the light switches two cover screws.
The guards are an enclosed rectangle with a door that opens for access to the switch. In order to open the guard you have to use one hand to squeeze the two sides of the guard together slightly, and with your other hand you open the door to access the switch.
I had to get something different than the ones you described that is the guard that just goes over the switch, but you can still flip the switch from the side.
I tried those, and my dad was still turning the furnace on and off.
I even said to him one day, Dad, you see the bright red plate around the switch with the words Furnace Shut Off don't you? And before you open the basement door, you hit the switch near the door to turn on the lights right? And when you open the basement door, you see that the lights are already on right? So why do you keep hitting the furnace switch?
He just yells at me, and walks away.
I do still get a phone call every now and then and he asks me how to open that "stupid little box you put around my light switch in the basement", but I tell him its not for the lights it's for the furnace and just leave it alone!
I would rather get a phone call at 7:30 pm from him complaining about the "stupid little box" than to get one at 2:30 am complaining about the house being cold!
Jim
