Heavy duty digital timer for space heater

[jstchilln]

We are looking at buying an electric infrared ceramic space heater for a basement area. Despite the house being insulated the cement walls and carpeted cement floor in the basement leave it cool while the upstairs is nice and warm. I am looking at one of the Infrared ceramic space heaters and I think it will do well for the area needed but I also dont want the thing on all the time. I want the heater to come on an hour before we get up in the morning but not on weekends so I looked for a heavy duty digital timer for a 1500 watt heater. The best I could find and I also searched timers on this forum is a 15 Amp heavy duty timer and also an Intermatic 1000 watt timer.
When it comes to Amps and Watts I am completely out of my element.
Does anyone have any suggestions for a heavy duty 7 day digital timer?

*** I dont have enough post to post links to the products in question. Being a basic home owner I lurk here and take in a lot of info.

 

[Bert_]

My opinion, plug in space heaters should only be used when you are around to watch it. To many fires caused by these things.

If you want an electric heater get a dedicated wall or baseboard heater and wire it with a programmable thermostat.

On a different angle, are there any heat runs to this room?

 

[jstchilln]

Bert, I agree with you on space heater fires. I'm a captain on paid fire dept. and I have seen numerous space heater fires during my career. BUT, all have been a result of poor wiring or clothes and flammables to close to the heater. This is the reason I want the heavy duty timer and only run it for short periods.
Yes there are two heater vents in the basement (HVAC system) but as i said in my post they arent enough to keep the basement warm or if I kept the basement warm the upstairs would be very warm. This is why I thought a quality space heater wired correctly would be my answer.
BTW, I wish I could show you pictures of a call we ran Wednesday with extension cords ran from apt to apt. Very common in some areas and yes they did start a fire.

 

[The Cobbler]

quick search on ebay "programmable electric heater thermostat " gave lots of results. here is one example https://www.ebay.com/itm/Automatic-...h=item2cde95b18a:g:WDoAAOSwg3FUoKGv:rk:5:pf:0

 

[jstchilln]

Thanks Cobbler but this is for a thermostat. Also, I havent made it this many years by trusting my safety to something bought off of EBAY. With all of the Chinese knock offs I only buy name brand products from a reputable retailer.

 

[cybrdyke]

Seems like you could use an in-wall timer, like an Intermatic ST01C or EI600C, but you would need to put it into a wall box and then control a receptacle with it. It can be done, but seems like a lot of trouble.
Other options might be something like a plug-in timer, like a christmas tree timer, but I dont think I'd trust one of those.
CD

 

[jstchilln]

Seems like you could use an in-wall timer, like an Intermatic ST01C or EI600C, but you would need to put it into a wall box and then control a receptacle with it. It can be done, but seems like a lot of trouble.
Other options might be something like a plug-in timer, like a christmas tree timer, but I dont think I'd trust one of those.
CD

I looked at the Intermatic timers and also thought they would be a little much and the christmas tree timer too little. Years ago I had a block heater on my truck and used a heavy duty timer but I have searched and searched and had little luck.

 

[Git]

They make programmable timers with temp control that plug into an outlet and then you plug your heater into it. Makes it easy peasy since there is no installation and you can move it around

This one for example can handle up to 15 amps and if you go to the page, scroll down to the bottom you can see some more examples. (1500 watt space heater (on high setting) should draw about 12.5 Amps). Which heater are you thinking about?

Edited to add - I didn't realize it when I first posted this, but I went back and looked up Cobbler's eBay link - and this is the exact model that he posted, sold by Amazon, and it's cheaper. The reason why I know about this particular one is because I bought it a couple of years ago and at the time, it worked great. (I haven't used it for while - no need to anymore). You can see that over 2,000 people left pretty decent reviews for it. It is a programmable timer that will turn on/off whatever is plugged into based on the temperature

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000E7NYY8/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[Negen]

Grasslin is what I used on the damper of my furnace. It is made in Germany and quite durable

Sent from my G8141 using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[matt_i]

The issue that I see is there isn't a turnkey one stop solution.

If it can be broken into 2 components then its a problem that has been solved many times. 1) there needs to be a heavy duty switch. The relay has been around for ~100 years and fits this bill. A definite purpose contactor would be my choice, you can get 30A or even more which is way overkill. Choose a model with 120vac coil. and 2) the timer itself (which need not be heavy-duty) needs to enable or inhibit the relay coil.

It could all fit within a metal enclosure and be plugged in close to the outlet, and be of "industrial duty" and not something made by XYZ Components so it could be sold on Amazon at a minimum price point.

 

[danielbuck]

https://www.mcmaster.com/digital-timers

 

[TheEquineFencer]

Google RIB relay ...add a timer to the control side...

 

[nadogail]

A programmable sprinkler timer driving a definite purpose conntacter through a thermostat.

 

[finn]

The Lux programmable timer works pretty well, but space heaters, unattended, still make me nervous.

I have been using a Lux programmable timer/thermostat to control a small ceramic heater aimed at the toilet water inlet pipe in my shop in cold, ie teens and single digit, weather The toilet water freezes in the wall without the heater, even though the sink water pipes, about two feet away, remain unfrozen.

Some day I will have to open the wall in an attempt to figure out why one pipe freezes and the other is ok.

Thank god they used pex.

 

[shaggyant]

They make space heaters with timers built in. Why not get one of those instead?