Nobody loves doing laundry, and it is even worse when you have to pay for it.

How would you like to find a way to get free laundry services every time you visit the laundromat?

Michael Orlitzky found a way to do just that, and while it might not be precisely legal, it did work for him and he’ll be presenting his findings at the DEF CON hacker conference. He also talked about it in an interview at 404 Media Reports.

It all started when he was doing laundry and the machine he was using ate his quarters.

He couldn’t get it to give a refund without downloading the app and going through an extensive process.

This was the start of his journey, he wrote on his blog.

“That was the day I decided laundry would be free.”

He went on to research the brand of machine that was used in his building, Speed Queen. He learned all about how their internal wiring worked, how to access it, and what each component did.

From there, he was able to order the proper tools to open the machines up from the internet (he even purchased off-brand tools to save extra money).

He explained:

“If you know anything about physical security, you might guess that they’re all the same key. I ordered one, and… it works! Dummies.”

To get the washer working, all he had to do was touch two wires together with a thin piece of metal. This caused a small short circuit, which registered in the machine as a quarter dropping in.

Next, he got the dryer working by exposing two wires and touching them together, which started a cycle.

Now that he knew how to get the laundry services for free, he just had to make sure he didn’t get caught. This was also pretty easy, he said:

“I do it in the middle of the day. The bypasses don’t harm the machines, and the machines don’t belong to the people who own the buildings/cameras. Your neighbors (who are most likely to catch you in the act) aren’t invested either way. What are they gonna do?”

While this is definitely not recommended, it is always interesting to see just how easy it is to get around various systems.

Who can blame the guy for getting free laundry?

If you enjoyed that story, check out what happened when a guy gave ChatGPT $100 to make as money as possible, and it turned out exactly how you would expect.