Automated scented oil diffuser?

[BrunDog]

Has anyone ever connected a scented oil diffuser (like Glades, Febreeze, etc.) to an appliance module to turn it on and off?

My experience with these is that while running, they give off a strong local scent, and that does not permeate the house too well unless air moves around it. So it dawned on me - I could connect one to an appliance module and mount that near my air-conditioner intake. When my air-handler is reported ON by the thermostat, I can trigger the module on, and the scent will then be passed through the system.

Anyone see any issues with this? Will the oil have any detrimental effect on the air conditioner evaporater?

TIA,

BD

[nsisman]

I have never tried it but sure sounds like a great idea !

Let us know how it works out...might save a whole lot of product as well !

[mrhappy]

Just one thought that popped into my head is that these plugin things tend to use a ~2W resistor to generate the heat, probably really only drawing a few mA from a mains supply. Reaching into the back parts of my mind I am sure there were issues with X10 modules in particular switching LED lights that when on would not turn off - not sure what the lower current limit is but something to do with the load sensing control and low currents I think. Try it and see how you go - other than that a good idea...

[BrunDog]

Good tip! I know the insteon wall switches require neutral, so I will check minimum currents.

-BD

[outbackrob]

Has anyone ever connected a scented oil diffuser (like Glades, Febreeze, etc.) to an appliance module to turn it on and off?

.....Anyone see any issues with this? Will the oil have any detrimental effect on the air conditioner evaporater?

TIA,

BD

I tried to do this for the very same reasons a few years ago. It didn't work well (or look good enough for good WAF) so I put everytihng inside the A/C return. Got it all set up and just before I actually ran it, I read an article about a defuser causing a house fire.... SO, I bought a Glade/Lysol automatic spray system. Grocery store type product. I disassembled it, hooked a Universal module to it, and put it inside the A/C return. The Universal module is not in the A/C return enclosure. I just ran a wire to the Glade sprayer to it from my HA closet. Ten seconds after the A/C comes on, the Universal module sprays the Glade Sprayer once every 5 seconds for a minute. It will only fire off once every 3 hours no matter how many times the A/C cycles. 12 sprays is enough to cover our whole house for about 3 hours..... Have been running this with a BRAND NEW A/C for about 14 months. Had an A/C checkup after about 5 months and there was no sign of any deposits in the system. No corrosion or anything. A/C guy didn't have a problem with it. ....and the system is under full warranty for another 10 months.

The only issue I have is that the batteries last longer than the spray bottles. I'll change the bottle once every 3-4 weeks and sometimes the batteries won't last all the way through the 4th bottle. The next step is to run 3VDC to the sprayer and forget the batteries.

Rob

[reidfo]

I've been thinking about doing this too. I don't like the plugin diffusers (don't like the scents). I have some all natural citrus scents in spray bottles that I do like to use from time to time. Not sure how I'd automate that though.

Rob, which sprayer did you end up getting?

[outbackrob]

It started out as a Lysol sprayer....

It started out as a Lysol Neutra Air Freshmatic Air Sanitizer. It automatically sprayed every 45 minutes. It seemed like the easiest one to mod with the Universal module. It was pretty easy. I now use Glade refills as they are cheaper and can be bought at my local SAM's cheap and in bulk.

[Dave W]

Has anyone ever connected a scented oil diffuser (like Glades, Febreeze, etc.) to an appliance module to turn it on and off?

BD

Too many great ideas about putting auto sprays in the air duct. But FWIW I use lamp modules to drive the Glade fan powered fresheners (abundance of lamp modules made me experiment). Both the lamp module and the appliance module have enough leakage current to keep the fan running. So I have a 4W night light in the circuit, which adds enough load to prevent fan from running in the OFF state. The fan freshener does not seem to be bothered by the triac's turn on distortion. Obviously Homeseer does not try and "dim" the air freshener.

This may be a Luddite suggestion, but has anyone tried a low tech "cake" style freshener in the return duct? Who can resist chocolate covered cherries?
http://www.renuzit.com/products/choc...s-adjustables/

[outbackrob]

Instead of a lightbulb, try this mod. It takes longer to get the case back together than to do the mod itself.

http://www.laureanno.com/x10-mod4.html

[Dave W]

Instead of a lightbulb, try this mod. It takes longer to get the case back together than to do the mod itself.

http://www.laureanno.com/x10-mod4.html

Rob,

Have you done this?

Does it actually disable the leakage current or does it only disable the "local control" functionality?

Thanks!

[outbackrob]

Hmmm. I thought they were sorta one in the same. (Current sensing/Local Control) The issue I had before the mod was that my LED lights would never stay off. I could issue the command and they would go off, but within about 5 seconds, they would come back on. Snipping off the diode fixed that.

For the air freshener, I am using a universal module that mimics the pressing of the manual spray button....

Rob