WARNING: Jasco Air-Gap NOT Mechanical

General Discussion
1

This happened to me, and I wanted to get this out before anyone else attempts to electrocute his or herself with a Jasco device.

So, in a faulty device, you would expect the airgap relay to NOT work since the airgap does not physically disconnect any load?
Thank you for contacting Jasco Products Company.

The air gap switch is one thing that can fail on a switch. It’s not something that I here too often failing, but if that is what failed then when it’s pulled out the air gap switch wouldn’t cut the power to the switch.

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2

Thanks for the warning.

My best practice is to kill the power at the breaker before working on any outlet, switch, or light fixture (smart or dumb)

3

<i>My best practice is to kill the power at the breaker before working on any outlet, switch, or light fixture (smart or dumb)</i>

Well, yes, naturally. But they market the “air-gap” as the recommended approach to work on any device AFTER the switch.

Air Gap Switch During normal operation, there is a small amount of power passing through the switch to the load even when the switch is turned off. The 45612 has an air gap switch on the lower left side (see diagram for location) to completely disconnect power to the load.
http://www.lowes.com/campaign/iris/pdf/45639%20manual%20ENG.pdf

The bolded statement is MISLEADING. It does not completely disconnect power to the load, as it is an electrical switch to disconnect, in the event the electronics are faulty, regardless of the air-gap state, power could still be connected to the load.

If the air-gap was a mechanical switch, then one could be 100% certain that zero watts, amps or volts are being sent down the line. However, since the air-gap is an electronic switch, it’s working status is only as good as the electronics.

I find this, at best misleading, and at worse, libelous.

4

Frankly, I think it’s stupid to have the Air Gap anyway. I would never trust that a switch won’t get accidentally flipped when I’m working on electric on my house. Nor would I assume that everything was wired corrects so that the swtich interupts the line and not the neutral. So I would never just turn a switch off and figure that I’m free and clear to work with installed wires.

I think the air gap switch only gives a false sense of security to someone even if it was a completely mechanical switch. The fact that it’s electronic makes it even worse.