Timer Suggestion?

[Lever_Man]

Hi.

I'm looking for a quality timer for my La Pavoni.

In the morning, I have a short window of time where I would like to return home and make a quick espresso before heading back out. Even though the timing is specific and somewhat consistent, the window of opportunity is not large enough to wait for the 8-10 minute warm-up. Therefore, I would like the timer to allow the LaPavoni to turn on before I arrive, with a safety net of turning off 20 minutes later if for some reason I cannot return home.

Hoped for attributes:

° Accurate / precise (needs to be specific when can be turned on and off; mom's old "out of town" timers aren't precise enough)
° Reliable
° Durable (can withstand the daily usage as well as current draw of the La Pavoni).

Thanks much.

John R.

[bobpaule]

Timexes work very well. It has 4 programs and allows you set different times for weekends. I have two machines on these.

Lowe's and in your end Ace (or whatever orange logo chain, been a while since i left the coast) may carry it. For anything else there is ebay

[HB]

I recommend the Intermatic DT17C:

Programming per day and programming per week
3-prong grounded plug and receptacle
Easy-to-set hand-held programming with battery backup
Manual override feature
Ratings: 15 Amp (1800 watts) Resistive and Inductive, 500 Watts Tungsten, 1/3 H.P. 120 V.A.C.

I used to program it for weekday and weekend hours, though now I do it manually. Be careful with espresso machines that cannot auto-fill; the heating element can burn out if the boiler runs dry.

[jesawdy]

I recommend the Intermatic DT17C

Dan, comments on Amazon scared me away from this one before. Out of curiousity, how long have you had yours? Any issues or reservations?

[HB]

Yikes, quite a few reported problems on Amazon (two excerpted below). I've had mine for a few years without problems. It's plugged into a surge protector, if that matters. The unit does get a little warm as M. Williams reported. I bought it at Home Depot.

This was wonderful while it worked, then stops working after a few months, even when you put in fresh batteries. At least mine did. And I've had other very unreliable Intermatic products like a wall timer switch which was amazingly unreliable. I was hoping this would be different. It was indeed better than the wall timer switch, but it still breaks after a few months of use (stops being able to turn things on and off- problem with the relay switch inside?).

I bought one of these and it lasted about a year so I took it apart and found that it had a bad solder connection so I fixed it and lasted one more year then would no longer switch on devices, so I took apart again, found that a diode went bad, very poorly designed power supply there is a resistor that gets overly hot. Now I've power it with a transformer and so far so good. Please note this is the only digital timer with 14 on off settings and that has battery back up, that I could find.

[happytamper]

Be careful with espresso machines that cannot auto-fill; the heating element can burn out if the boiler runs dry.

I agree with an auto refill if you use a programmed timer. I messed up the element on the Urania and will not repeat that experience.

[Fitz]

I bought one of the Intermatic DT27C Heavy Duty timers last Monday at Home Depot. It's rated for 15 amps and seems to work well, although I was rather disappointed that it was not set up for the new DST dates and did not change times yesterday morning. I wound up turning off the automatic DST setting so that it didn't change in a few weeks. For $20.00, it's hard to beat.