I disagree. I would like a machine that I could start when I want, I don't like when I start a load before leaving the day then having it sit in the damp until I get home to put it in the dryer. I would prefer to be able to start it an hour before I was going home so it would be ready for transfer to the dryer then.

I also would like phone notifications, it is sort of in a corner of the basement so I don't hear the alarms.

A mechanical controlled washing machine with a mechanical timer on the plug would, reliably, achieve the same thing. no need for networks and external servers. A timed controlled smart plug, with current monitoring, would be able to achieve the IOT aspect of the problem.

It would need to be a very specific kind of washing machine (that hopefully probably exists) to make your idea work.

A fully analog/mechanical washing machine is just a big mechanical timer controlled relay behind the knob like a toaster oven. If you set it without power, it just runs through the timer without doing anything.

The machine would need to have a timer mechanism that is turned by an electric clock motor, not a mechanical spring with gears etc.

Or you could possibly set up an electric actuator that blocks the knob from turning. Then trigger both the power-on relay and the actuator retraction to do both at the same time.

>The machine would need to have a timer mechanism that is turned by an electric clock motor,

Pure mechanical timer based washing machines have been driven by electric clock motors (line powered) for at least 50 years (as that is as far back as I remember knowing how they worked). So if line power is out, the timer does not run.

Of course, the delay timer on the line would need enough power handling capacity to carry the load of the washing machine.

> A fully analog/mechanical washing machine is just a big mechanical timer controlled relay behind the knob like a toaster oven. If you set it without power, it just runs through the timer without doing anything.

My washer has dials to select the modes and then a final push button that activates an internal relay (guessing from the loud mechanical switching sound it makes when it goes on). If all you need to do is complete the circuit of the push button. You can just unmount that push button and hook its wires up to your timer mechanism which completes the circuit when the timer expires.

The dryer on the other hand does have a mechanical timer. But that doesn't activate until you turn the dryer on with the push button. So you could set the time of the dryer and not turn it on either, and use the same mechanism as above.

Toaster ovens use spring wound timers, as they are simple and easy to mass manufacture. Its a simple time off delay

Mechanical Washing machines don't use spring wound clocks, they run of the AC frequency of the mains. It generally drives a small solenoid that increments the clock. The control drum is significant more complex than a toaster ovens timer

My current electronic washing machine saves its current cycle state when it looses power, and happily continues when power resumes 2 hours later (unlike my dishwasher, which does not). Although You'd have to start it before turning off the relay, so not as easy as the old mechanical dials

I highly doubt a mechanical timer would be more reliable than a micro and some buttons.

I can't think of a single mechanical device that is more reliable than an equivalent solid-state version of that same device.

Solid state relay vs electromechanical relay. Timex quartz watch vs. an automatic or manual watch.

Laundry rooms can be both hot and cold, are almost always humid, are often home to caustic chemicals, and a dryer's components are constantly exposed to dust in the form of lint: the perfect use case for solid state.

Spraying a pcb with a coating is much cheaper and more reliable than sealing a mechanical mechanism.

Instead of resisting, the smart move is to agitate for and promote secure, open, standards.

Every basic washing machine I've owned has had an option to delay the start for an adjustable amount of time.

My schedule is erratic and unpredictable at the beginning of the day, but I can estimate when I have an hour left.

This is also true for me, and, I suspect, for many people.

I guess there is some utility then. I find that to be very narrow and outside my personal preferences but recognize that you find it useful.

In theory you don’t need a computer/internet to start it later, but that would require you knowing when you want to start it upfront. Meaning there is still a unique capability for the smart washer.

It’s nice, I’m with you, but if your machine have tiny screen with remaining time (yes it’s not very accurate) - “hey siri set timer for 90minutes” works fine enough.

I'm also in favor of simplicity, but I think there is an increase in reliability from a microcontroller-based system over one built from discrete logic gates, a mechanical timer, or electromechanical relays. I get that you might not want updatable firmware or might not want communications off the board, but you probably do want a microcontroller-based (with the associated firmware) machine.

It’s less about desire and imagining there may be perfectly reasonable scenarios that exist without one needing to be aware of them or them having to be universally applicable.

I found little utility for appliances with remote access until the number of humans to keep fed and clothed grew beyond myself and a partner.

How?

Every little tweak can add up to a staggering amount of time around monotony in a lifetime.

A basic example: https://efficiencyiseverything.com/water-per-second/

The only thing I could agree with is if it started at at time when the spot-price of electricity was low.

Miele already offer this on newer washing machine. They can connect to your inverter too and start a load when there is available local solar/battery/low spot prices.

It’s called “SmartStart”

It works very well in my experience. Load the machine in the morning, and it will start later in the day, then send my phone a notification when the load is done

But how would that work in practice?

You load the machine say in the afternoon/evening after work etc, and then it decides based on historical data that 02:35 is the local minima and starts. You run the quick 1-hour program because it's Good Enough(tm), then the laundry lies wet in the machine from 03:45 until you wake up around 06:00 to start your day hanging it? In my experience, but perhaps this is just local circumstance (climate etc) you can't leave damp laundry in the machine for hours on end, it will get smelly and need to be re-washed.

Also, not being able to plan when you deal with the wet laundry because of the power price hunting feature sounds super annoying and stressful. Perhaps there's an assumption that after the laundry it will also tumble dry; we rarely do that due to it being bad for the clothes and costly in energy etc.

In Europe spot prices are announced 24 hours in advance so it's actually very easy to this. It's super handy for things like battery-electric vehicles or central heating. For the latter you also take in the weather forecast into your model, and voila, lower power usage, better comfort. For BEV you can easily set plans to charge it even more than usual to take advantage of unusual drops.

My washer and heat-pump dryer don't really use that much electricity. They've become super efficient. There are better and lower hanging fruits than such appliances these days.

There is a ripe for socket power relay that you can configure when should the power come on based on electricity spot price.

I've often wondered why no new manufacturer has appeared with a stacked system that can wash clothes in a top washer and then dump them into a bottom dryer, or even an all-in-one frontloader.

Front-loaded machines with both a washer and heat-pump dryer exists. I've had one for many years. It's quite handy if you have light loads, but I much prefer having a stack of separate washer and dryer, even though it means I have to manually move them from one to the other.

You know I had the vague thought of searching to see if they were actually out there but dismissed it as unlikely (at least in NA) because I've recently been appliance shopping and never saw one in person.

Probably because that would much more mechanically complex and therefore expensive and failure-prone, and the market has decided that the existing options are good enough (I'm not defending this, just describing what I see).

Combo washer/driers exist. They typically have less capacity than stand-alone units.

Drying performance is shit. Especially since you can pack a washing-machine fairly full without affecting performance, but a tumble-dryer needs to be loosely filled. But even so, the combo machines don't dry well.

That is an interesting idea. I guess you could probably set that up somehow. Although I’m not sure if you can necessarily access that data live from your electricity company. I imagine you could probably just accomplish the same thing by running at 3am every night.

I’ve thought the same. But quite anti-social for apartment dwellers

Depends on the building. The last two apartment buildings I lived in, you could hardly ever hear anything at all from neighbours. One was in a century old building, one was in a completely new building a couple of years back. YMMV.

I’d absolutely pay for some features of a smart washing machine, like a way of telling whether there’s a load currently running. I live in NYC where my building has one (non-commercial) W/D set for ten residents. Climbing up 6 floors with a heavy laundry basket sucks and avoiding wasteful trips would be something I would pay a huge premium for if I could add it on.

This is solved by a scheduling system which in its most simple form would be purely mechanical: https://www.thenewbieguide.se/laundry-in-sweden/

I wish that were possible here. Looks quite ingenious actually.

Dumb appliances still have firmware on their microcontrollers to control things like wash program, indicators, sensor feedback, you name it. Making a full functioning appliance without the micro would incur huge engineering and BOM costs that can be replaced with a $0.50 micro.

My washing machine displays a remaining time when you start it but is constantly wrong. So you go to the basement to find out it needs 15 more minutes. You go down 20min later and still 5min left. It is very pleasant to know when it is ready without going to the basement

Only the most expensive Miele washing machines have Wifi. The basic models don't.

So it seems people are willing to pay extra for the feature.