Time Delay Switches

When it is cold outside - as it is these days - people start working on their heating system, hot water systems, towel rails, and some even on insulating the house to make sure no heat gets out. We prefer a warm house or office, and we make sure there's plenty of heating either via the underfloor heating system, the wall mounted heaters, the free-standing heating elements, or the towel rails. It is good to be warm, but at the same time it is good to be safe and not waste too much money on electricity or gas. Make sure leaving the lights, heating, or ventilation fan on doesn't make a hole in your pocket! Think about it: have you ever left the heated towel rail on the whole day by mistake? Have you ever switched to the immersion heater and forgot it was on for a while, until the electricity bill shows some serious increase in the kW used? Have you ever forgotten the wall heater or the standing convector heater on for the whole day or night, and then regretted it when the whole house was too hot, or you realize how much this would cost? How a Run Back Timer Switch for Heating can Save you Money There is a need for a switch that would provide a way to save electricity and money, while at the same time the heat would be on. We do need the towel rail to be hot, but we don't need it hot for the whole day. In a school, a community centre, a college, or an office, we need to have hot water and warm heating elements, but they don't need to be ON 24/7. One way to turn them off is to do it manually, but another way is to use a time lag switch. The CP Electronics RBT1, for example, is a high output run back timer taking loads up to 20A, and is great for use with immersion heaters and with towel rails. It has an ON/OFF switch, and it allows you to make sure the heat, ventilation, or lighting load is ON only for 0min - 2h, with 15mins increments. Do you need the heat ON only for 1h? Do you want to make sure the towel rail is not ON the whole day but only 1h or so? You can manually adjust the run back timer to reflect this. And then you can see at any point in time how much time is left for the heating / ventilation / lighting element to be ON. There are quite a few other time delay switches suitable for different needs to save you energy and money - check them out here. Always remember: according to the current regulations, it is not recommended to install any wall mounted switch or any switch that involves touching in the bathroom; pull cord switches are OK, but no other switch is allowed in the bathroom - they all have to be installed outside the bathroom. This is true with the time lag switches, which need to be installed on the wall outside the bathroom. Remember: Installing a Time Delay Switch Combats Forgetting the Lights ON!

Young children can be the blight of the domestic eco-warrior. They forget to turn off the lights when they leave a room. Facts and figures mean very little to them. Not to mention all the electronic toys! A concept design by designer Danny Taylor got us thinking about how we might teach children how to be energy-conscious in a fun way. Rationing Energy with Happy Faces The concept is a rotary dimmer switch with a smiley face on it; when the lights are on, the smiley face is actually a sad face. It's a nice way to reinforce the idea that having the lights on makes something happy, although many professionals dislike the idea of negative reinforcement. As Gizmodo suggests, you could copy this idea at home with a paintable dimmer switch (like this switch from Heritage Brass) and a marker pen. We don't condone intellectual property theft as a general rule, but as this switch is still in the concept stage, it's certainly one solution. Rationing Energy with Other ThingsBut how else could we get the concept of energy management across to children without overloading them with data? There are plenty of resources for classroom teachers, and some guidelines from the Guardian. But what if you're an eco-conscious parent? Well, we have a whole range of domestic energy management devices in our online store, such as occupancy sensors and thermostats for lighting, heating and ventilation. One creative method suggested to us was to connect the shower heater to a time delay switch so that the hot water is only available for a set period of time.Time Delay Switches at Sparks This has the unfortunate side-effect that someone may be using the shower when all of a sudden it turns freezing! We haven't actually tried to do this, but we are certain that our parents certainly would have done this to us if the technology had been available at the time. We were going to suggest simply "leading by example," but that's what was suggested to us.Do you have any more ideas about how to teach kids to be energy-conscious? Let us know in the comments! Header image by jenny818 (Creative Commons)

We don't often notice them, but time delay switches (also known as time lag switches) are incredibly useful devices. Once a time delay switch is pressed, it will turn on the connected fitting (or fittings) for a predetermined amount of time - from a few seconds to a few hours. Then, once that time is up, the fitting/s will switch off again. These are very simple but very useful energy-saving devices. They can be connected to one specific device or a local system, and some can even be remotely operated by a slave switch. The technical details are very impressive, but why might you actually use one? Combat Forgetfulness In public spaces like hotels and schools, people can often forget to switch off the lights, the heating or other specific appliances after they have been used, which left on will consume power for absolutely no reason. In these instances, a time delay switch will help conserve power and reduce the overall cost of running the property. Combat the forgetfulness of your customers or your family members by installing a simple yet energy-saving time delay switch!Specialized Functions Normally, the length of the delay can be adjusted. All our time lag switches have a mechanism that allows the user to set the amount of time the load is set to 'ON.' When using these devices, each appliance can be tailored to specific situations. A heated towel rail, for example, could be set to heat up for the normal duration of a shower - so that you can step out of it into a warm towel. These units are easy to install - we have a lot of 2-wire switches that do not require a neutral connection, and so can replace an existing manual switch. In conclusion, why not use a time delay switch as an eco-friendly alternative to the regular switches (which are so easy to be left ON all the time)? We're sure there are a lot of applications that we missed; why not share your own ideas about how these switches can be use.Time Delay Switches

The Sangamo Round Pattern Time Switches are renowned for their simplicity and ease of use in industrial and commercial installations.Note: this item is no longer available at Sparks; see the available time switches. All models have a 20 amp switching capability, allowing the products to be utilized in many heavy-duty applications where the use of contactors cannot be warranted. To cater for a wide variety of applications, the range of Round Pattern Time Switches includes three distinct groups, each with their own unique characteristics: The Sangamo Electronic E850 Range: Flexible, seven-day, fully programmable electronic control with battery reserve. Allows up to 48 ON and 48 OFF operations per day. The Sangamo Quartz Q550 Range: 24-hour quartz controlled with battery reserve. The Sangamo Standard S250 Range: 24 Hour quartz controlled without battery reserve. On our website we have the Sangamo S250 range and the Sangamo Q550 - this is a round pattern time switch, 24-hour quartz controlled without battery reserve, 3/4 pin base. Up to two ON and two OFF operations per day. The 24-hour programming cycle performs the same sequence of switching operations on each day and can be quickly and easily set using the small manual levers on the dial. A “day omission” device allows you to select any number of days in the week on which the switching cycle can be disabled.  A general purpose times witch for heating, ventilation, and equipment control applications. The Sangamo synchronous time switches are designed to perform a daily cycle of operations affected by operating levers fitted to the dial. Once set by the user, the switch will operate at the selected times on every day of the week; if operations are not required on certain days, the Day Omission Device can be used. Also, a manual operation push button is provided.Time Delay Switches at Sparks