Timers timers timers

[crazycanuck]

OK, let me first preface this by saying I have no experience dealing with electricity,
all I know is positive and negative
and thats about it

I want to hire an electrician to install a pool timer. My setup is this. I have a
100amp main box that services my house. There a dual 30amp circuit breaker in that box
from which there is a pony box that is wired into it. The pony box (located outside by the equipment)
has 2 15amp breakers, one is the main breaker that kills everything (pump, SCG, extra outlet) and the other
I am not sure, it could be the extra outlet only) I have a Pentair mini max 300ch Millivolt
heater, the kind that doesnt have a direct electrical connection, I guess it uses a pilot light/switches and
water pressure to operate? The pump is a 1.5 hp pentair superflow and the SWG is a pentair ig20.
The pump and swg are hardwired into the ponypanel.

Ok, so what type of timer can i get to run this setup, I had an electrician come in and give me a quote and he
seemed baffled by the heater, and basically told me he isnt licensed to touch it. I guess I need an electrician that has his HVAC license. I went to Home Depot and the guy that worked in the electrical dept was stumped too and was basically telling me I need 2 seperate timers and then he went into this single pole, double pull, blah blah blah thing.

I need the heater to turn off 5-10 minutes before the rest of the equipment does. I'm not installing myself but I would like to get a little educated on it so when I do meet with an electrician I don't have that stupid look on my face.

 

[Caustik]

I have two timers installed, one for my main pool pump and one for the booster pump. I have a heater hooked into the mix as well. Its a timer with whats called a firemans switch. They must be pretty common, as most of the people I know with pools have them.
You can see it here http://www.poolcenter.com/timers_automation.htm
Its the second timer. I believe the one below it runs my booster pump.

I would think its pretty common for an electrician to install. Both my pumps are 230v I believe. It has a double breaker for each pump. I am not an electrician so I can comment on how it works.

Just a note from my personal experience, when we are running the heater we run the pump 24/7 anyways. You could easily get away without the firemans switch I think. Not sure if it is legal though.

 

[ghm]

Intermatic makes timers specificly for this purpose.

http://www.intermatic.com/Default.asp?a ... d=66&did=4

Look at the two circuit models and choose one suitable for the voltage or your pump and heater.

 

[tenax]

i've got one like the t101P..basically i have a slave box that comes off it with a couple of relays in it and and adjustable shutoff time (a little dial that i can turn from 0 to 12 minutes in time) i believe the reason my electrician built the box and went that way was because he wanted to wire the timer as 110, but the pump, my autopilot and heater all require 220 so i have 2 separate power supplies. it works flawlessly. my heater shutoff 12 minutes in advance of the pool pump and autopilot. i also had him install a wall switch for each of the powered items. the only thing that's continuous power unless i turn off the breaker is the timer clock. it was almost an afterthought, but i'm glad i had him put in the wall switches for flexibility.