Sangamo - standing the test of time
Mark Robinson, product director with Sangamo, takes a look at the time switches and heating controls product categories and the options they provide for electrical wholesalers to offer their customers.
When specialist supplier of time switches and heating controls, Sangamo, was acquired by Scolmore Group earlier this year, the aim was to bring this brand new product category under the ESP umbrella and in doing so make the Sangamo range much more widely and readily accessible to customers through the electrical wholesale channel.
This is great news for wholesalers who will now have a whole new range of products to sell on to their customers and all from a reliable brand that has customer support at the root of its continued success.
At a time when smart homes and the internet of things seems to be dominating the sector, not all electricians, or homeowners for that matter, are confident of embracing this new technology. Wholesalers have a great opportunity to help their customers add to their income stream by selling the benefits of the products in this sector. With Sangamo, they can be confident of accessing not just a broad range of products, but a whole package of technical and marketing support that comes with being part of Scolmore Group.
UK Manufacture
Sangamo was first established in the UK in 1921 and has occupied its current factory in Port Glasgow since 1951, and over this time has built up an excellent reputation in the industry. The company has been manufacturing time switches at the Port Glasgow factory for over 65 years and today offers a wide range of time switches and heating controls for domestic, commercial and industrial use. These products will now sit alongside ESP’s growing range of CCTV, Access Control, Fire Protection, Emergency Lighting and Essentials products.
The company’s Round Pattern Time Switches and Powersaver Controllers are both fully manufactured in the UK by an experienced production team. With a proud reputation for quality and reliability, Sangamo guarantees its full range of time switches and heating controls for five years from the date of manufacture – providing customers with reassurance that their products can be installed and used with complete confidence.
Round Pattern Time Switches
For over 65 years Sangamo has been manufacturing its famous Round Pattern Time Switches to the same high standard that was first achieved back in the 1950’s. With over 11 million units sold to date, the installation of a Sangamo Round Pattern Time Switch (RPTS) used to be a regular job for many electricians. Despite the electro-mechanical time switches being less common today, the company still reports sales of thousands of units each month, both as replacements and as brand new installations.
The Sangamo RPTS is trusted by installers for a wide variety of applications, not just because of its reliability but its ease of use. The switches are split into four categories each containing both three-pin and four-pin connections. These are:
- Basic ‘black dial’ 24-hour time clock for simple on and off switching of up to 20A
- Standard 24-hour ‘red dial’ switch with added 100 hour battery reserve to keep the switch in time if any power outage occurs.
- Solar Range - specially designed for lighting applications. The Astro/Suntracker switches automatically adjust themselves to follow sunrise and sunset times without the need for a photo sensitive cell.
- Digital Range - the newest addition combines the high capacity and reliability of the electro-mechanical models but provides full 7 day programming.
Sangamo’s Product Director, Mark Robinson, comments: “We regularly hear from people with Round Pattern Time Switches still going strong after 40 and 50 years. When they eventually need a new switch they reasonably assume, because of its age, that it might not be possible to get a direct like for like replacement. However, because the original design has never needed to be updated, an RPTS you buy today is completely interchangeable with one bought decades ago.
DIN Rail and Panel Mounted Time Switches
Sangamo also offers a range of DIN rail and panel mounted digital time switches that include NFC capability. Near Field Communication (NFC) is a low powered wireless communication technology that allows devices to exchange information from just a few centimetres away. Using the free Sangamo Connect app on an Android NFC enabled smartphone allows you to upload a created programming schedule; download an existing schedule to store or amend, as well as transfer programmes from one switch to another. This enhanced capability makes this form of time switch so much easier to program and has been exceedingly well received by the industry. Another strong feature of the NFC range of timers is that they will switch up to 600 watts of LED lighting.
The range also includes Astro Switches also known as solar switches, which automatically adjust their on and off times to match sunset and sunrise times. A selection of Standard Switches completes the range. These are generally used to control heating, ventilation and door entry systems.
Programmers
Programmers are a key component of heating control systems. Since many homes are unoccupied for parts of the day, there is little point in heating them if no one is there to benefit. A programmer allows the occupant to specify when the heating comes on to match their lifestyle and their heating requirements.
Sangamo’s Choice range of programmers for timed heating and hot water control offer feature rich, adaptable programming options with a fresh modern design to suit any home. Each model can be selected between 24 hour, 5/2 day or 7 day programming, 3-in-1 options to adapt to each home.
The single channel Choice model is designed primarily for timed, simultaneous control of heating and hot water. It is ideal for use with a combination, or combi boiler, and it has a Volt Free Contact. The 2-channel Choice is designed for separate control of heating and stored hot water. The programs are independent of one another giving the opportunity to control usage in the most energy efficient manner possible. The 3-channel Choice offers independent control of two separate heating zones as well as hot water storage.
Thermostats
A room thermostat is used to regulate and maintain a desirable temperature throughout the home. It works by switching the heating system on and off as the temperature varies throughout the day. If the temperature drops below a certain level, a sensor in the room thermostat can be made to trigger the switch for the boiler and pump which will heat the radiators and in turn, the rooms in the home. If the room rises above a certain temperature, the thermostat will then turn off the central heating system so that your house will cool down to its desired temperature once more.
Sangamo’s Choice Thermostats comprise mechanical, tamperproof mechanical, digital, wireless digital and wireless digital programmable versions. The Smart Thermostat with APP is an intelligent system which predicts the start of the heating period, ensuring comfort at the right time. Widely compatible, it can replace most wired and wireless thermostats on the market and can be used with fuel, gas and wood systems.
Powersaver Controllers
The primary application for the Powersaver range is to control immersion heaters. In a typical UK household nearly 20% of a home’s energy cost is spent on heating hot water. Leaving an immersion heater on all the time can be a significant waste of energy that can drive this figure up to 25% or higher. Fitting a Sangamo immersion heater controller can reduce these costs by up to 50%, even more if the property can take advantage of dual tariff electricity and controlled by the Powersaver Dual Flexi. The Powersaver Boost and Select models are rated at 16 amps and can be used for other applications such as controlling panel heaters in both domestic and commercial properties, switching towel rails and many similar uses.
Beat the winter blues
There is evidently a lot of business in time control for the wholesaler, judging by Sangamo’s product sales. We are now in the coldest months of the year, when any inadequate or inefficient heating control systems will be taking their toll on the comfort and energy savings of households. That makes now the perfect time for wholesalers to be advising their installer customers about some of the best upgrade products and solutions that they can be recommending to their clients.
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