It's snowed here today again!

[efh5a]

Will winter ever end? It snowed here again today. With my trip to San Diego earlier this week I thought I had just about managed to escape it. I was slightly mollified by the fact that it wasn't a work day, so at least I could go take some pictures of it while it was all fresh and pretty. But just by way of contrast, here's where I was Tuesday

Comments

[caffienekitty]

Wild guesses on the purpose of the switch:

1) Turns the bathroom wall plug (for shavers and whatever) on and off
2) Turns on power to the actual light switch so little kids can't stand there for hours flipping the lights on and off and trying to figure out how fast the speed of light was and whether they could be faster than it (not that I did that whan I was 8 and my parents needed to replace the switch because it got loose and wiggly from constant flipping or anything)
3) Turns on the "This bathroom is occupied" light above the outside of the door
4) Turns on the instant towel warmer
5) Opens a portal to another universe which sucks every single useful-sized bandaid into another dimension so you're left with nothing but the "giant dot" kind and the itty-bitty ones that stick to nothing but themselves.
6) Makes hot, respectful and friendly men appear in the bathtub. What? Sorry, my hormones are up.

[efh5a]

1) Nope.
2) Nope.
3) Hee, no.
4) No.
5) Hmm, interesting theory, but no. I don't think you can turn that portal "off."
6) Wow! I wish, but no.

[ravenrants]

1)I'll second the socket guess.
2) Add a guess that it turns on the light in the attic.
3) Maybe she has heated floors?
4) A light to the back porch? (Not that that should be in the bathroom, but mine's in the hallway by the kitchen so, whatever.)
5) Blogging inspiration, every house should have one!
6) If it does teleport hot guys to your home, can you ask her where she got it so I can get one, too?

[efh5a]

1) And I'll add a second "no" on that one.
2) Nope.
3) Mmmm, heated floors . . . nope.
4) Nuh-uh.
5) Sadly, no.
6) Dude, if that thing really existed. . .

[graziaplena]

Ummmm....

1) Turns on the bathroom fan
2) Turns on a heating lamp
3) Turns off an electric smoke detector (some sense heat rather than smoke, and maybe the heat from the steam of the bathroom would set it off?)
4) It has no function! The electricians who built the house had a leftover switch and wanted to mess with the future houseowners.

[efh5a]

1) Nope.
2) Nope.
3) Nope.
4) Hah! Sounds like something I might consider doing, but no. It actually does serve a very important function.

[caffienekitty]

It actually does serve a very important function.

...does she have an electric toilet???

[efh5a]

Hee, nope. Posting the answer as a separate comment.

The Answer!

[efh5a]

Excellent guesses everyone! I never figured it out on my own and had to go fess up to messing with the switch and ask my friend what it was for. Turns out it's a master switch for turning the HVAC unit on and off. First of all, I'd never seen a light switch for turning the heating and cooling on and off, everywhere I've lived that's been controlled by the thermostat (and he did have a separate thermostat downstairs in the living room). And secondly, why on earth would the bathroom be a logical place for such a switch? Turn out they put it there because the HVAC unit is actually located in the ceiling right above the switch, but dude, talk about a mystery. My friend was actually living there a few weeks before he figured out what it did -- he couldn't figure out why adjusting the thermostat wasn't working, but finally realized that seemed to be the only thing in the apartment that had changed when he moved the switch to the "off" position

Re: The Answer!

[graziaplena]

Duuuuude. I never would have guessed that. Everywhere I've lived, the "off" switch is built into the thermostat itself.