count down timer for electrical stuff

As the cold season comes in, and as the price of oil is soooo high ... I'm thinking about heating with electric heat. But! I'm also thinking about not using it too much.

I think it would be good to have little electric heaters around where people need them along with a count down timer. Maybe the kind you twist to get 30 minutes. Then, if you race off to answer the phone and then start dinner, the heater isn't still running where nobody is enjoying the warmth.

I've spent some time at froogle.com but I'm not coming up with anyting.

Anybody know of such a product?

Better yet, the kind you put quarters into. Why hand out heat to those pesky houseguests for free!

Any electrical supply house should have them (probably Home Depot and the like as well).

You'll find just such a timer in most hotel bathrooms.
They're used for the heat lamp in the ceiling, just outside the shower.

Found those. To rig it up with the little portable heater, I need to .... hey .... waidaminit ....

This could be perfect! I could hardwire one of those things into the cord for the heater!

I was worried that some people that talk about energy conservation, might choose to bypass the timer. But what if their heater has the timer built in!

Now I need to come up with some kind of little box for the timer bit.

And I wonder if those things have a wattage limit ...

I'm sure that same electric supply house would have a box for the cord.
I'm also sure that the switch has a U/L wattage rating right on the package.

I looked it up. 10 amps max. That works out to 1000 watts and most of these heaters are 1500 watts ....

I did find a couple of heaters that have a built in timer ....

My work has a couple of these
"Tower Ceramic Heater With Ionizer"

Search that term and it will come up.

Eric

Whew, I thought from the topic you might be building a bomb. Then you'd need one of those digital displays that stops at "007"

In my office they have attached timer machine to all ACs, it turn on ACs for 10 minutes after each 30 minutes.

I used to have a timer built in to an extension cord. I used it for my coffee pot so I wouldn't forget and leave it on all day. It would also work for an iron or a heater.

There is also the kind of timer that turns things on and off at certain times of the day (like lights).
[ September 25, 2006: Message edited by: Marilyn de Queiroz ]