Can this thermostat be used for an IR bulb?

jaredGalen

Could the following thermostat be used to control the switching on and off of a IR bulb/convection heater in an outside pump house?

http://www.plumbworld.co.uk/salus-ft100-frost-thermostat-1932-17050
The prices seem quite reasonable.

The pump house is insulated but is quite far from the main house and not practical to be checking during a cold spell.
If not can someone recommend a one?

Buford T Justice

Depends on the rating of the bulb. That unit is rated at max 3A, and is generally designed for switching, and would be carrying a load for a short period.

If you have a big IR bulb that's over 3A the chances are it'll burn out when switched on, unless you start getting into contactors and all that sort of stuff.

jaredGalen

Shoot, I'm not too familiar with that.

I was just thinking of using it inline with a socket to turn on/off the 250W ir bulb or a 500w fan heater. Guess that would be a no-no now if the rating as you say is higher then the spec.

Do you know of any other frost thermostats? I've been looking online (pulsar.ie) and other places but not having any success. Nowhere locally has anything.

Thanks for the reply.

Buford T Justice

Pulsar are plumbing merchants, so wouldn't necessarily have one.

Something like this would be more suitable. This is from CEF's UK website but they have stores in Ireland. Any decent electrical wholesaler should have one.

To be fair OP, you may be better off getting a spark for this if you want to be sure its done safely.

jaredGalen

Thanks for the advice and I appreciate that to have it done right I need to get someone who knows what they're at.

I just want to get the thermostat sorted. I won't be going near the wiring.

Thanks for the link too. I'll look into them.