I have a permanent tower warmer mounted on the wall in my bathroom. You operate it by turning on a wall switch. I'd like to automate it to turn on when motion is detected or based on time of day.
I figure i would need a wall switch that is designed for more amperage than the typical light bulb switch.
i need an on-off zwave switch, and if i guess i would probably pick a wall switch that can handle 15amp so I get a bit of headroom. Currently i have just a regular mechanical wall switch mounted i in a single gang box. There is nothing special, just on and off.
I looked online for wattage on warmers but could not find anyone listing it (i was hoping to find what is typical).
I guess i can hook up my amp meter on it.
Switch is rated for 1800 watts resistive load. I have been using with a towel warmer for at least a year, works great. BTW, towel warmers have less of a load then you might think. Typically 150-250 watts on 120 VAC.
I would like to see a towel warmer that draws anywhere near 15 amps. LOL.
I have a couple of those switches at home i could use. I looked on amazon but couldn't find a rating. 1,800 watt resistive is plenty for my needs.
I have no idea what the towel rack consumes, it was installed before i moved in. But i wanted to make sure i don't overload the switch if those warmers are big power consumers. If its 120watt then that is nothing. are they typically that low in power consumption?
Gets hot enough to burn yourself, if you are not careful.
Since they are fairly low power, I have mine turn on at 3:00am, which is enough time to get the towel toasty for morning showers. The Rule shuts off the towel warmer a little while after we leave the house.
I replaced the wall switch with a zooz switch. Worked well.
Put on a simple automation rule for warm towel in the morning, and off at 10 am.
Wife was happy with the warm towel -success
Just saw this post, I've had my towel warmer running on a GE switch without issue for about a year. Not sure what time you shower, but I keep mine on for about 3 hours after the last shower, that seems to give the towels plenty of time to dry.
I do about 2 hours and that seems to work well. I think the warm towel coming out of the shower is the hit in the family. My towel rack gets warm so slowly that the timer is essential.
