On Fri, 19 Sep 2008 18:01:59 -0400, Jeff Wisnia
wrote:

Square Peg wrote:
Most coffee mug warmers are under-powered. One reviewer on Amazon said
that they were restricted to about 24 watts by law.

This one

http://www.amazon.com/Bunn-BCW-Warme...1796737&sr=8-3

is made for warming the whole coffee pot. It says it's 120V/15amp.
Several of the reviews say that they use it for a single cup, but it
keeps it too hot. It only has on/off -- no temperature control.

Can I put it on a 300 watt dimmer switch like this?

http://www.amazon.com/Lutron-Electro...1799800&sr=8-2

If not, is there a way to ramp the the power down as an external
thermostat?


I seriously doubt the veracity of that "120V/15 amp" rating, which I did
see listed as a "spec" on a couple of other seller's websites.

I have a Bunn coffeemaker and I just measured the current draw of the
warming plate on it at 1.05 amps. (I made sure that the main water
heating element's thermostat was OFF at that time of course.)

So, if approximately 120 watts will keep a full caraffe of coffee at
proper drinking temperature on my Bunn coffeemaker, the stand alone Bunn
warmers probably draw no more than the "built in" ones.

That 120 watts is 1 amp x 120 volts, right?

Thus, that 300 watt dimmer ought to do just fine after you find the
right slider setting to keep a single cup hot.

And then duck tape it in place! ;-)

Go for it!

I'll report back (or just listen for the fire trucks).

Jeff