On Friday, March 3, 2017 at 12:01:24 AM UTC-5, micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Thu, 2 Mar 2017 20:37:15 -0800 (PST),
wrote:

The neutral and ground wires are often tied together at some pint in the house wiring. Rather than go to all this trouble, why not just have the timer run a table lamp placed on the kitchen table??

I want it to be the ceiling light, the same light I have on every night
when I'm eating dinner etc. So it will look just as it usually does**.

I'm going to be away for 11 weeks, plenty of time for someone to notice
I'm not really there, so I dont' want to be obvious also.

All the reasons on the web for not doing this are about the the ground
being hot if the ground gets cut, and it will be, but any current that
flows out of it will have to go through the switch's clock first.

**I have another timer to turn a light on in my "office" a couple hours
later, when I'm normally there.

So what you are telling us is that there are bad guys watching your house so closely and so
consistently that they will notice as soon as the light in the kitchen changes from a ceiling
fixture to a lamp.

Are you a spy or something? Who is watching your house so closely?

Ok, so let's say they are watching your house that closely. Do you turn the kitchen
light on and off every night at the exact time that the timer is going to? If not, the
folks that are watching your house have 11 weeks to notice the exactness of the
pattern and will know it's a timer.

Of course, they are also probably going to know that you aren't home. They've already
hacked your life and know your complete trip itinerary.

Forget the timer. You're screwed anyway.