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AC Countdown Timer for Electric Heater?

It would be good to have a countdown timer that I could plut into a 120v AC outlet, and then plug a heater into the timer. Turn the dial to 20 minutes with the heater, and 20 minutes later the 1500 watt heater goes off. No one seems to make them.

I decided to buy a 60 minute timer at the local h/w store and a two outlet socket. I figured I could put this in an electrical connection square metal box with a

3-prong wire and plug. Ho-ho. Finding a square box with the lugs for an outlet is not easy. I was quite surprised. We have several four outlet boxes in the house, but I see they are plastic and not quite what I had hoped. I checked at RS and they have some plastic boxes that look like they could do the job if I cut holes in them, but that will take more than holes.

Any ideas?

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              Wayne T. Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA)
                  (121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
                   Obz Site:  39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet

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W. Watson
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socket. I

That's what I did.

3-prong

The metal box should work fine. (Don't forget to ground it.) Only caveat, is that normally the devices mount to the cover instead of the box, or else to a secondary ring (box, ring+devices, cover).

I just put them into a plastic electrical box, put a plastic cover plate over them. No problem. Even a shallow box is deep enough. Did you just not want to use plastic?

Oh, and I'm considering splitting the outlet such that 1/2 is always on, the other half runs from the timer.

sdb

--
Wanted:  Omnibook 800 & accessories, cheap, working or not
sdbuse1 on mailhost bigfoot.com
Reply to
Sylvan Butler

socket. I

3-prong

Breaking your e-mail address was interesting. Heavens! I wonder this msg will get to you via my attempt. :-)

It's good to know that you had the determination to see this through. I had some thought of just buying a standard metal box, and slipping it all in. When I got into it, I found the 2 prong outlet fixture wouldn't stretch across the box, and I couldn't get a face plate to put across the outlet side. The 60 min timer didn't quite fit either. I must have spent 90 minutes traveling among h/w and electric stores looking for readily available parts to just sort of screw it all together without using a hacksaw, drills, etc. This was turning into a bigger project that I needed. I finally took it all back, but may try again another day.

I would think the fact that I have 3-prong outlets everywhere, and the use of a

3-prong plug for this apparatus, would be sufficient to ground it? I would have thought something like this would have some consumer demand, but I guess not. It's strictly a do-it-yourself deal. There may be some that cost $100+. Very odd. 
--
              Wayne T. Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA)
                  (121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
                   Obz Site:  39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet

                         Web Page:
Reply to
W. Watson

get to

Sorry. The second line of my sig should work: sdbuse1 on mailhost bigfoot.com (given that "on mailhost" in e-mail syntax is an "@" symbol)

If you're ever in the area of Boise, Idaho, I'd be willing to meet at the hardware store to help you get the needed bits. And the folks at Grover's PayNPak are usually very helpful as well.

sdb

--
Wanted:  Omnibook 800 & accessories, cheap, working or not
sdbuse1 on mailhost bigfoot.com
Reply to
Sylvan Butler

get to

Finally came back to this group. It may be that I will be in Boise this year. I do go up that way these days. I like to kayak in Idaho and travel to Yellowstone.

--
              Wayne T. Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA)
                  (121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
                   Obz Site:  39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet

                       Most vehicle/deer accidents occur at sunset.
                          Vehicle deer whistles are ineffective.

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W. Wat son

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