Get notified when the washer finishes
Learn the washer’s own power pattern, remember when a real cycle starts, and send one alert after power stays at the finished level.
Best for: Washers whose electrical load can be observed safely and whose power pattern has a clear running and finished state.
Not for: An unverified inline smart plug, a shared circuit with combined readings, or a washer whose low-power cycle pauses look the same as its finished state.
Why this exists
Wet clothes are easy to forget when the laundry room is out of sight. A useful alert must distinguish a completed cycle from an idle machine, a fill pause, a delayed start, and a monitoring device that just reconnected.
The reliable pattern is stateful: prove that the washer was running before treating sustained low power as done.
What I used
| Job | Good enough | Never think about it | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Observe washer power | No personally verified monitor for the washer’s nameplate load yet | No personally verified circuit-level energy monitor yet | I have not verified an inline power monitor for this load. Do not assume a general-purpose smart plug is suitable. |
| Clear the waiting-laundry state | A manual dashboard or phone action | No personally verified washer-door sensor yet | A manual reset is better than an unreliable door sensor. |
See recommended gear for the job-first checklist. Do not buy an inline monitor until its voltage, continuous-current, startup-current, grounding, and appliance-load ratings have been checked against the washer and its manual.
Logic
- Trigger: Measured power stays above the washer’s calibrated running threshold long enough to prove a cycle started.
- Conditions: Monitoring data is current and the washer was not already marked as running.
- Action: Mark the washer as running and clear any previous waiting-laundry state.
- Wait / timeout: After a real start, wait until power remains below the calibrated finished threshold longer than the washer’s longest normal low-power pause.
- Stop condition: Mark the cycle finished, send one notification, and set a waiting-laundry state.
- Manual override: A person can clear the waiting state without affecting the washer.
Setup notes
- Check the washer manual and nameplate before connecting any inline monitoring device.
- Configure the monitoring device as observe-only. Keep its relay on and exclude it from broad “turn everything off” routines.
- Record power through at least three complete cycles, including the modes the household actually uses.
- Identify a running threshold that standby noise never reaches.
- Identify a finished threshold and a delay longer than every low-power pause seen during a cycle.
- Create separate running and waiting-laundry states.
- Test with silent logging before enabling notifications.
- Enable one completion alert, then add a quiet reminder only if it is useful.
Calibrate from evidence
Fixed internet thresholds are guesses. Build a small observation table for the actual washer:
| Observation | What to record |
|---|---|
| Idle before a cycle | Normal standby range |
| Fill and soak pauses | Lowest draw and longest duration during a real cycle |
| Agitate and spin | Typical active range |
| Finished | Stable draw after the controls settle |
| Monitor unavailable | How missing or stale data appears |
Choose thresholds with room between observed states. If there is no reliable gap, use a different sensing method rather than shortening the delay until false alerts appear.
Advanced features
Add one restrained reminder
Set a waiting-laundry state when the first alert is sent. If it is still set after a household-chosen interval, send one quiet reminder. Clear it manually or with a separately verified door sensor.
Respect quiet hours
Keep the completion event in history, but delay speaker announcements until daytime. A phone notification can remain silent overnight.
Show data health
Display unavailable or stale monitoring as unknown, not idle. Missing measurements must never count as a finished cycle.
Failure modes
- Alert arrives during a soak or fill pause: Lower the finished threshold, lengthen the delay, or use a different signal.
- No alert arrives: Confirm the running marker was set and that recent power reports continued through the end of the cycle.
- Alert arrives while the washer is idle: Require a sustained running state before completion can trigger.
- Duplicate alerts arrive: Clear the running marker atomically with the first completion alert.
- The monitoring device reconnects at zero watts: Treat unavailable-to-zero transitions as startup recovery, not completion.
- Someone turns off the monitoring plug: Restore power manually and remove the device from all remote shutoff routines.
- The monitor is not rated for the washer: Remove it. Use a properly rated monitor or have an electrician install circuit-level monitoring.
Done when
- The monitor’s ratings have been checked against the washer and its manual.
- Three representative cycles establish the thresholds and longest normal pause.
- An idle washer never creates a completion notification.
- Every test cycle creates exactly one completion notification.
- A simulated unavailable reading does not count as finished.
- The alert remains useful during quiet hours.
- The washer still works normally without the automation.
FAQ
What wattage means that my washer is finished?
There is no universal number. Observe several complete cycles, find the lowest normal running draw and the stable finished draw, then place the threshold between them.
Why must the automation remember that the washer was running?
The running marker prevents a completion alert every time an idle washer reports low power or reconnects after an outage.
Should the automation turn off the smart plug?
No. Use the device only for monitoring and keep its relay on. Do not remotely interrupt a washer cycle.