I have an electric patio heater that I sometimes forget to turn off after using. In addition to a fire hazard, it costs a lot of money to keep it running overnight if I forget. However, it also doesn’t turn on when you power the outlet on. You have to hit the button on the heater to turn it on, so a normal smart plug won’t be able to automate turning it on and off. Is there any kind of device that could be programmed to sense when current starts flowing through the plug and start a timer to automatically turn it off in 1 hour?
Just get a timer plug. Start the plug then start the heater. Getting it to turn off is easy. But turning ON then OFF is going to take some HA with relays or solenoids because of the mechanical switch requirement. Be simpler to just buy new heater with built-in timer.