Auto-off heating devices
Born out of the need to create self shutting-off outlet for appliances that generate heat (e.g. curling iron or space heater), I tied a power outlet to a timer switch.
But it raised the question, shouldn’t all heat generating devices be set to turn off at a fixed interval. Say and hour or so. Isn’t the minimized risk of fire worth the hassle of turning a device back on after an hour. Especially for devices that aren’t typically used for more than an hour at a stretch.
Now you could get even more advanced by introducing an accelerometer into the device, that starts the timer when the device is not in motion for a set period of time. After all space heaters already have a tip-sensing shutoff built in.
So I say to heat producing device manufacturers of all ilk, why not implement these safety features. We could all use a few less house fires.
As with all of my Why Hasn’t Someone Done This? posts, I do hope someone can prove me wrong and show me that this actually exists somewhere. Or some enterprising person is hacking together a kludge for now. Though in this case, I suppose I have hacked a solution.