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scottmi1
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Joined: July 11 2006
Location: United States
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Posts: 60

Posted: January 28 2007 at 09:50 \| IP Logged

We use our gas grill a lot - like 4-5 times a week all year round. I like to run the grill another 15 minutes when I'm done cooking to help clean it. Problem is that once in a while I forget to turn it off and I end up running through a whole tank of propane. What's worse is when I go to use the grill again and it's out of gas.

I put a temperature switch (switches at about 180 degrees) on the grill and connected it to an X10 Powerflash module. I defined a trigger in PH that fires off the following macro when it receives an on signal from the Powerflash.

insert into macroheader values ('GRILL ALERT','GRILL ALERT',0,0,1);
insert into macrodetail values ('GRILL ALERT',1,36,'',NULL,'"Grill is on"',0,'');
insert into macrodetail values ('GRILL ALERT',2,31,'',NULL,'300',0,'');
insert into macrodetail values ('GRILL ALERT',3,23,'CHIME',2,'',0,'');
insert into macrodetail values ('GRILL ALERT',4,31,'',NULL,'3600',0,'');
insert into macrodetail values ('GRILL ALERT',5,26,'',NULL,'GRILL_ON',0,'');
insert into macrodetail values ('GRILL ALERT',6,16,'',NULL,'if((ph_getx10stat("GRILL TEMP")=1),1,999)',0,'');
insert into macrodetail values ('GRILL ALERT',7,36,'',NULL,'"Grill is still on"',0,'');
insert into macrodetail values ('GRILL ALERT',8,23,'CHIME',2,'',0,'');
insert into macrodetail values ('GRILL ALERT',9,31,'',NULL,'1200',0,'');
insert into macrodetail values ('GRILL ALERT',10,27,'',NULL,'"GRILL_ON"',0,'');

Here's what the macro does:

10. Output a message that the grill is on.
20. Wait another 5 minutes for the grill to heat up to full temp.
30. Turn on an X10 chime module to let us know the grill is ready.
40. Allow an hour for cooking time.
50. Loop label to return to.
60. Check to see if the temp switch is still on, if not, then exit.
70. Output another message that the grill is still on.
80. Turn on the X10 chime module to remind us to turn off the grill.
90. Wait another 20 minutes.
100. Go back to 50 to check again.

I hope this will help save some others on propane costs!

Mike..

Edited by scottmi1 - January 28 2007 at 09:53

onhiatus
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Joined: May 12 2004
Location: United States
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Posts: 279

Posted: February 19 2007 at 14:58 \| IP Logged

I like this idea as I often make the same mistake...

A couple questions and a thought.

Q: Where did you get the temperature switch and how did you attach it?

Thought: It should be easy to hack this into a x10 motion detector for wireless...

scottmi1
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Joined: July 11 2006
Location: United States
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Posts: 60

Posted: February 20 2007 at 08:20 \| IP Logged

I don't remember where my temperature switch came from, but here is one that should work. I attached mine to a threaded stud on the bottom of the grill. You may have to experiment a bit with placement based on the temp rating of the switch. The motion detector is a great idea to make this wireless.

Mike..

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