I am looking for a thermostat with an automatic 30 minute shut off (like an egg timer).
I live in a condominium and we have a small gym. It is rarely used, but whenever someone uses it they turn the temperature down to 60 degrees and then it stays like that for days. We have an automatic timed thermostat, but all the settings get set for 60 degrees.
What I saw once in a hotel was a thermostat that basically had an egg timer on it. It was generally off, but when someone came in to workout they could turn it on for 30 or 45 minutes and it would cool the room down then turn off. I think this might save us a lot of energy because they gym is probably vacant at least 20 out of 24 hours a day.
You can buy electrical timers like for bathroom heaters/vent fans at most home centers or hardware stores. Perhaps you could have an electricain rig it up to the thermostat so that it would turn on power only for a set amount of time.
you can buy a timer like that anywhere , i have a great one that a button can be pushed to automatically turn the electricity on for one hour and thats it , besides that it has a button for each hour of the day – and you can decide if its on or off for each hour. I personally find it to be a great help in saving money and conserving energy and would higlhly recomend them to use with applainces around the house.
Thing is – these timers are intended to have some appliance plugged into them, and well by building code – you can not have heaters plugged in at all – no matter what kind of heat you have it has to be wired through a thermostat and to either a electric panel or control panel for the oil or gas heating the place.
Although i think these timers are great – they are not a legal option for heating.
I would recommend maybe having a heating contractor come out and price a temporary over ride thermostat. and have the existing timed thermostat put in a caged enclosure. To explain this – the existing timed thermostat can continue to be used and put in a enclosure with a few bars or a plastic case around it so nobody can touch it or alter its settings, but another thermostat can be installed right next to it – then people can change the settings on – but those settings will only be good for a hour or two (depeding on the unit used).