List Price: $81.00
Sale Price: $68.00
Today's Bonus: 16% Off
I was warned by someone that these are fragile and they were known to fail. I suspected they were mishandled, and that I would be sure to handle mine with care. I spent a lot of money to get this installed and after a few months of service, it failed. It is stuck open and no longer times-down to close. This is not due to mishandling (i.e. Forcing it closed or turning beyond some limit). I do not plan to get a replacement, as installation costs more than the valve itself.
Great idea, but heed my warning. Mine failed after I ignored my warnings..
Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>
I had several reasons for wanting to buy one of these timers.a. They recommend running the grill on high for 15 minutes after you finish cooking. This burns up the remaining food stuck ot the grill, and lets you easily clean it up and get it ready for next time. My concern was the 15 minutes might turn into 15 days, and show up accordingly on my gas bill.
b. Since the grill is outside, the grill, quick disconnect hose, and valve are exposed to vandals.
c. I wanted to connect it also to my garage furnace that I've been known to leave on overnight by accident.
d. Concern about a surprise gas bill if a tree root were to get my gas line to the garage, and I forgot to turn off the valve inside.
These timers is manufactured by RH Peterson Co., and Fire Magic is the RH Peterson Co. brand.
The valve is constructed as two ~1/2" intersecting bores. There is a piston in the cross bore. The gas flow does not go straight through, however. The cross cylinder has a slot in it that starts at approximately 25% from the bottom of the 1/2" diameter gas passage, to approximately 1/8" being above that, which is the top of the piston when the valve is open. Thus, the slot is somewhat below the widest point in the bore, and 1/8" high. My concern being that it wouldn't flow enough gas to run my large grill or 80,000 BTU garage furnace without impacting performance
I set the timer for an hour. When it ticked down to close to the OFF mark, I shined a light through it again and watched. Suddenly, I heard a snap, the plunger piston had snapped shut, the timer stopped, and I could no longer suck air through it. So it works like an egg timer, except instead of hitting a bell, it slides a piston.
I tried it again except I wound it up to approximately 5 minutes. The timer started ticking but the valve was not open. I then wound it a little more, and the valve opened and the timer started ticking again. This time the plunger closed very slowly and by about the 5 minute mark, it had closed to where you couldn't suck air through it, but it was still ticking. That's not such a good scenario since there might not be enough for a flame, but enough to build up gas. Then I wound it back up to an hour, it worked like it did the first time. It stayed full open, the valve snapped shut, and the timer stopped ticking.
They advertise the valve to flow 100,000 BTUs. That is meaningless information. First, flow is dependent on opening area and pressure. Second, propane and natural gas each have very different BTU ratings per cubic foot. Third, if that is for a 100% pressure drop, then how much of that flow is usable would be nowhere near the advertised rating since the operation of the appliance depends on performing the pressure drop itself. What would be useful is of they would state something like it flows like 1/4" diameter pipe one foot long so that it could be calculated into the gas flow, just like you to today with pipes and fittings. Perhaps they mean for up to 100,000 BTU propane grill? I couldn't get an answer from the vendor, but they were hot to sell me a grill and another timer.
I don't have figures for my gas pressure, but I do know that the gas company replaced our meter and set the pressure here about two years ago. I also know that pressure they shoot for is as close to 1/4 psi as they can get without exceeding it. That comes out to a whisker below 7 inches of water pressure. The piping to the timer is 1/2" black pipe. From the timer to the grill is ~25' of 1/2" black pipe until it gets to the 3/8" quick disconnect. The piping to the garage furnace is ~70' of 3/4" plastic except between the valve in the garage and the furnace. All manual valves are full flow.
With the absence of any real specs, I decided I needed to have a way to determine if this valve is the real deal or a hoax, and if a hoax, uncover it publicly before they scammed anyone else. I had to run a natural gas line for the grill and decided to re-plumb the garage furnace as well to be able to use the timer with the garage furnace also. I have shut-off valves in addition to the timer valve because once wound, you cannot shut it off, it has to time out. I added one more thing, a timer bypass so that I could heat the garage for more than 3 hours without have to rewind the timer. This also lets me test if the gas timer is affecting the output of the grill or furnace. The first test was to try it with my 64,000 BTU grill. The max the grill would get with just the timer with 530 degrees. When I turned on the bypass, the grill didn't gain a single degree. Then I turned the bypass back off and the grill did not lose a single degree. My expectation was to determine how much it would change, not if it would change. That was a surprise. The next test was the 80,000 BTU natural gas furnace. Without something as convenient as a temperature gage to measure with, I came up with two methods to test. One method would be by eyeballing the flame. If the flame increased noticeably when the bypass valve was turned on, and the other by measuring the difference between the number of seconds between burner on high, and the activation of the fan switch. By looking at the flame, I couldn't determine with any degree in confidence if there was any differences in flame. The next day I did the fan switch test. With the heat exchanger at 57 degrees, and the timer bypass on, it took 1:47 from burner start to fan switch activation. On the second test, the heat exchanger was at 87 degrees. With the bypass off it took 1:36.
I could have gone on and measured it with both the furnace and grill on and check for a temperature drop at the grill, but I don't want to spend any more time on it. I know with certainty that the timer will do at least 80,000 BTU on natural gas, enough to do my garage furnace or grill, which is what I needed to know.
In college, I had an exceptionally tough teacher. (Engineering classes) I noticed how much he was into the details and would fault students for not getting the exact nomenclature right by manufacturer, so I memorized them. I got 100% on the test and when he handed it back to me he said too bad. I asked him why? He said because when I have to give someone 100% it means they haven't been tested. After all of this, I have to say that the valve hasn't been tested. However, from what I've written, you might be able to get a pretty good idea if it will work for your application. Concerning longevity, I cannot comment. I just installed it, and the timer valve is mounted inside, on a wall, where it is not subject to the elements, vibration, or abuse.
No comments:
Post a Comment