I’m not at my house and don’t care when it finishes
If I’m at home and won’t hear the sound for some reason, I’ll just set an alarm on my phone. My washing machine tells me how long it’ll take, so there’s no guesswork here.
My washing machine tells me how long it’ll take, so there’s no guesswork here.
Washing machines exist that are smarter than just running a fixed program. They adjust the program, and thus duration, based om how dirty the clothes are. The same goes for dryers that look at the actual humidity of the clothes to determine if they’re finished.
Sure, and if I’m off by a few minutes, that’s totally fine. I honestly don’t need to know the moment my clothes are done, it can wait 20-30 minutes usually. In general, a laundry run takes an hour, plus whatever soak time I choose.
So I really don’t need any network access. I guess it’s fine if others want it, but I see it as a liability. If it connects to a network, that’s a security vulnerability (don’t want a laundry DOS) and another thing to break. Ideally, every model could optionally ship without it.
Its enough for me too. But not everyone has the same use case and environment. I definitely see why someone would want this.
What I disagree with is that it needs to communicate to the internet to do this. It adds delay and potential for outage if your internet is out. But they do this so they can force you to get their app and milk you for extra data to sell. Internet capable smart devices are to harvest data not grant features. Features could be done better by ZigBee and a hub, but that doesnt grant the device a way to phone home
Most washing machines have sensors and do not dry based on a timer. The program time is just a rough estimate, if clothes are still wet or soap bubbles are still present it will do extra rinses or spins.
You could then just set the timer to 2:15h. Still much easier than setting up “smart” tech. It’s like when a buddy of mine spent much money and put quite a bit of work into achieving that his smart light bulb lights up when he’s nearing the apartment door whereas I just screw in a bulb with an integrated movement sensor that achieves exactly the same thing without pairing, sending out gigabytes of data from spying on me, and costing loads of money.
That’s really on a person by person basis. I’m a software engineer, and have already automated a lot of aspects of my life, so adding another device and a new automation took me like 10 minutes to setup.
Wait: Do the times listed on the screen of your washer/dryer actually reflect reality‽
My dryer will say it’s got 20 minutes remaining for like an hour and a half. And yes, I clean the lint screen and vent regularly (all the way up to the roof!).
Washers usually give better estimates than dryers. How long something takes to dry depends on the material used. The washer doesn’t care about anything but weight.
I know so many people that will tell me that that is important to them. Those same people will hear the little jingle on their washing machine know that it’s done, and then not go move the laundry around for 3 hours
And I bet you it reduces reliability, because all those fancy electronics are absolutely crucial for it to work at all and brittle as a sand castle. So you’ll end up with a white brick if the wifi module craps out or a capacitor gets too warm.
It would be neat if it would then hang it to dry and when dry fold it and put it in the closet. It doesn’t so it isn’t. Its is just an old school jingle alert with extra (datatracking, most likely) steps.
Growing up, the washer and dryer were in the basement and you could really only hear that if you were in the living room with the TV off (so… never). But as an adult (who is finally living somewhere with its own washer/dryer…), I can hear that jingle throughout the entire house if I am not watching a loud movie at the time.
Growing up, we would more or less time it. Start a load and set the alarm on your watch for when it is done. But basically any modern washer/dryer is going to use fuzzy logic based on load weight and water levels and humidity and so forth. You can approximate how long it takes, but you don’t really have a proper timer. Which was annoying when my friends’ washer broke and they had to do loads at my place and it was always “Can you text us when it actually finishes?” or “So… I see you play Warframe. A lot… Uhm… It says there is five more minutes left”
So yeah. I can definitely see value in a networked washer or dryer depending on your living situation. And, while it would break IMMEDIATELY, I would love a washer and dryer with SMS push notifications for apartment complexes.
Also, while it is immensely wasteful (or a great way to get mildewy clothes), there is something to being able to start a dryer load when I pass the gas station about 20 minutes from home on a snowboard day. Because that would mean that I would have time to get home, take a really quick shower, and put on toasty warm clothes to compensate for having spent a few hours bouncing in the snow. And I would allow SO much spyware to enable that…
I guess it can notify you via your cell phone when a load is done. I could see that having value.
Mine plays a loud jingle when it’s done, which seems to be enough for me.
Yup. There are two situations here:
If I’m at home and won’t hear the sound for some reason, I’ll just set an alarm on my phone. My washing machine tells me how long it’ll take, so there’s no guesswork here.
Washing machines exist that are smarter than just running a fixed program. They adjust the program, and thus duration, based om how dirty the clothes are. The same goes for dryers that look at the actual humidity of the clothes to determine if they’re finished.
Sure, and if I’m off by a few minutes, that’s totally fine. I honestly don’t need to know the moment my clothes are done, it can wait 20-30 minutes usually. In general, a laundry run takes an hour, plus whatever soak time I choose.
So I really don’t need any network access. I guess it’s fine if others want it, but I see it as a liability. If it connects to a network, that’s a security vulnerability (don’t want a laundry DOS) and another thing to break. Ideally, every model could optionally ship without it.
Hahaha, but why?
I’ve used the shortest cycle, on cold, for 30+ years, with less than half the detergent “recommended”. Clothes are always clean.
And my clothes get dirty. Mechanic dirty (oils are tough). Welding. Tree sap from cutting down/splitting.
Front loader?
Its enough for me too. But not everyone has the same use case and environment. I definitely see why someone would want this.
What I disagree with is that it needs to communicate to the internet to do this. It adds delay and potential for outage if your internet is out. But they do this so they can force you to get their app and milk you for extra data to sell. Internet capable smart devices are to harvest data not grant features. Features could be done better by ZigBee and a hub, but that doesnt grant the device a way to phone home
Mine is in my garage, and I can’t hear the jingle from inside the house.
But two power monitoring smart plugs+ home assistant fixed that issue
A timer on your phone would have done the same with less hassle.
Most washing machines have sensors and do not dry based on a timer. The program time is just a rough estimate, if clothes are still wet or soap bubbles are still present it will do extra rinses or spins.
Correct. I often find myself going downstairs to the washing machine after 2 hours because it said 1:30h, and then it still needs another 12 minutes.
You could then just set the timer to 2:15h. Still much easier than setting up “smart” tech. It’s like when a buddy of mine spent much money and put quite a bit of work into achieving that his smart light bulb lights up when he’s nearing the apartment door whereas I just screw in a bulb with an integrated movement sensor that achieves exactly the same thing without pairing, sending out gigabytes of data from spying on me, and costing loads of money.
That’s really on a person by person basis. I’m a software engineer, and have already automated a lot of aspects of my life, so adding another device and a new automation took me like 10 minutes to setup.
You underestimate the strength of my ADHD. Automation keeps me from having to rely on ol’ unreliable
Then again, a simple timer on your phone could do the same thing.
Wait: Do the times listed on the screen of your washer/dryer actually reflect reality‽
My dryer will say it’s got 20 minutes remaining for like an hour and a half. And yes, I clean the lint screen and vent regularly (all the way up to the roof!).
Washers usually give better estimates than dryers. How long something takes to dry depends on the material used. The washer doesn’t care about anything but weight.
You don’t really need an accurate timer. If it says 2:30, just set an alarm to 3h and you’ll be fine most of the time.
My 30 year old, no electronics dryer takes consitent time.
Modern machines don’t display accurate cycle times at all. They use sensors to detect when to finish.
Exactly, it’s just an estimate.
Or even just knowing approximately how long the cycle goes for.
I know so many people that will tell me that that is important to them. Those same people will hear the little jingle on their washing machine know that it’s done, and then not go move the laundry around for 3 hours
Couldn’t you just program it to start (and stop) at a given time, or make a note of how long it says on the display that it’ll take?
It seems (to me) like a very, very minor improvement for a huge cost, namely that your washing machine is on your network and is internet connected.
And I bet you it reduces reliability, because all those fancy electronics are absolutely crucial for it to work at all and brittle as a sand castle. So you’ll end up with a white brick if the wifi module craps out or a capacitor gets too warm.
An 1830’s egg timer already resolved this problem, Future Boy…
It would be neat if it would then hang it to dry and when dry fold it and put it in the closet. It doesn’t so it isn’t. Its is just an old school jingle alert with extra (datatracking, most likely) steps.
Yeah.
Growing up, the washer and dryer were in the basement and you could really only hear that if you were in the living room with the TV off (so… never). But as an adult (who is finally living somewhere with its own washer/dryer…), I can hear that jingle throughout the entire house if I am not watching a loud movie at the time.
Growing up, we would more or less time it. Start a load and set the alarm on your watch for when it is done. But basically any modern washer/dryer is going to use fuzzy logic based on load weight and water levels and humidity and so forth. You can approximate how long it takes, but you don’t really have a proper timer. Which was annoying when my friends’ washer broke and they had to do loads at my place and it was always “Can you text us when it actually finishes?” or “So… I see you play Warframe. A lot… Uhm… It says there is five more minutes left”
So yeah. I can definitely see value in a networked washer or dryer depending on your living situation. And, while it would break IMMEDIATELY, I would love a washer and dryer with SMS push notifications for apartment complexes.
Also, while it is immensely wasteful (or a great way to get mildewy clothes), there is something to being able to start a dryer load when I pass the gas station about 20 minutes from home on a snowboard day. Because that would mean that I would have time to get home, take a really quick shower, and put on toasty warm clothes to compensate for having spent a few hours bouncing in the snow. And I would allow SO much spyware to enable that…