Monday, 2 May 2011
Programmable Timer - plug, appliance timer
This unit lasted about one winter. Too much heat was generated at the point where the male power plug (from the space heater) attached to the timer's female plug. Reportedly, excess heat can be generated if the plug is not inserted fully. But even when the plug is inserted fully and flush with the female plug, the male plug can work its way out gradually. In this case, the plastic case melts slowly and the unit stopped working -- which is better than having a fire. Separatelly, I find the pins to be very inconvenient and easily misplaced. Intermec has a superior model which had sliding tabs instead. [Intermatic TN811C Programmable Lamp and Appliance Timer.] That said, for the cheaper price, I'll be buying another unit. Intermatic TN311C 120 Volt Heavy Duty Grounded Timer
I've had this timer a couple months now and it works perfectly. It is very accurate and easy to use. I'm very pleased with it. I've had several other models in the past and this is the best of the bunch by a wide margin. UPDATE: 6/2/11: I've used 2 of these every day for 18 months now and have had no problems. They both still work perfectly.
I'm sure this product works some of the time, but ours worked for 24 hours and then never worked again. At first I thought we put the pins in wrong, but it actually stopped updating the little clock. I ended up returning it and spending $4 more for something that sounded like it might actually work.
Easy to use and works as expected. I'm using it to remove power from our Bunn coffeemaker during the night to save a little electricity as the Bunn keeps the water inside it hot all the time its powered.
I bought two Intermatic Time-All Model No. TN311 from True Value Hardware in Moab, Utah. I tried to use them last night but they didn't work. The circle does not revolve so that the off and on settings don't advance and do anything. All they did was to get hot so I unplugged them after an hour. I was afraid they might cause a fire. I went back to the store today and they opened a new package. I asked them to plug the new ones in while I left the store for about an hour. When I came back they gave me two of them (my original two or the two new ones?) and said to try them out but that if they didn't work properly they would give me an upgraded version. The two the store gave me today also don't work. The store said there were no safety recalls but I know they did not check on this. The items were used with a 3 prong grounded outlet. The circle can be turned by hand so that none of them are frozen into position. Apparently the motor in them is defective, missing, or not connected. All of the timers will turn off and on a lamp if the circle is turned by hand.
I have used these timers since February (now April) on a daily basis. Sometimes the little mechanical/plastic tabs do not turn the lights on or off. It misses about once per week. If you need your timer to reliably work, order a digital timer that is not mechanically based. - Home - Programmable Timer - Appliance Timer - Plug'
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