Simmerstat wanted

[Chris Hogg]

Many years ago, I had a home-made in-line simmerstat thingy. Basically a 13A plug->flex->little box with an energy regulator/simmerstat in it and control knob->more flex->13A socket. It allowed me to control things like greenhouse heaters, unregulated electric fires etc,

While I can probably put together the equivalent using one of the many simmerstats available as replacements for cookers etc, does anyone know if such a thing exists as a single unit to save me the bother. All I can find are replacement cooker parts.

[Theo]

I think 'simmerstat' is the wrong term to search here.

If it's open loop I think you might want to search on 'dimmer', but watch the power rating. eg table lamp dimmers go up to about 300W:

'13A' is the name of the socket not a current rating)

or there's 2000W 'ebay watts':

or less dubiously: If you want closed loop temperature control with a probe, those are easier to find under 'temperature controller': All cookie cutter Chinese products available on your preferred marketplace

- these listings may provide useful search terms.

Theo

[Brian Gaff]

Many older bar fires had a proportional dimmer type control on them, but most did create a lot of hash on the mains. Onewould think that a duty system switching at the 0v level might work though.

Obviously, not for use on a fan heater. Brian

[Max Demian]

Plenty of plug-in *thermostats* on Amazon. Isn't that what you really want?

[Fredxx]

I've used this item to control heater power:

I didn't use it for long but did the job.

[Chris Hogg]

Ah, that looks like what I'm after. Thanks.