I bought two of these (GE brand, 30 minutes) from Big Lots for about
$5 each. You can get various max-time settings. They make a soft
ticking sound. I use mine for bathroom vent fans after taking a
shower. I'm sure Lowes or BORG has them.

In my experience, the eletronic countdown timers are much more
reliable and pleasant to use when compared with the mechanical timers.
They are 100% silent, give you a choice of one touch time settings,
and usually have a warning LED that flashes before they turn off.

Inevitably, the spring mechanism on the mechanicals gets twisted too
far and the timer locks up in either on the on or off position. I've
seen it happen more than once.

Be aware that there are the countdown timers, as described above for
bathroom fans, heat lamps, commercial hot tubs, and anywhere you don't
want something left on for an extended period of time.

There are also time switches that switch things on and off at the same
time every day, (or at random times, or in step with astronomic
sunrise and sunset). Check out the Leviton brand for these.

Beachcomber