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[diverguy]

Hi,
I'm planning to install a hot water recirculation pump in my house and it does come with a timer but I'd like to have some more control over when the pump goes on and not.
There are both X10 motion sensors and switches to turn on a remote outlet and the pump connected to it, but I haven't found a switch that when pressed will keep the power on for X minutes to that outlet. This would allow me to easier have thecome pump on for a few minutes to get the hot water to my remote bathroom and not having to worry about forgetting to turning it off, or in the case of the motion sensor - it being on for the time I'm in the bathroom even though I might not need hot water. I also have a closet attached to the bathroom so if I need to go in there I don't need the pump to go on...
It would be perfect to have a button with a light so that I can see if the power is on or not.

Are there any controls like this? Or is there another solution to the problem?

/Mike

[dave w]

There are "Timer Relays" available from electronics distributors which when energized, will supply power for a prescribed amount of time. Google "Timer Relays", I have also seen them on eBay. On some models the period is set by a specific value resistor across the timing terminal, other timer relays have an adjustment pot and you dial in the delay.

However you are also adding conditions beyond a simple timed ON period, enabled by a motion sensor. You acknowledge there are times the pump will come on but no hot water is needed, etc.

So you might consider using X10s CM15A and the AHP software to add some pseudo intelligence to the recirc system.

By using the motion sensors to trigger software macros you can set up conditions where motion would not trigger the pump (i.e. getting up to tap the bladder at 2:00AM) Or you could set up a macro to cancel the pump cycle if you pushed the "PUMP ON" button on your manual control Slimline switch when the pump was already running. The CM15A and AHP software can be had for about $50 which is about the same cost of a "Timing Relay". I guess the down side would be investing time to write the macros.