Bypassing electric blanket safety switch

Hi all,
Hoping someone has an idea. I bought an electric blanket hoping to use it as a wrap to keep my Sanke fermenter warm in the garage. This is the model of blanket: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005448ST2/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20. I'm using a Johnson Controls thermostat to control the heat.

Unfortunately, the blanket has a safety feature so that when power is applied to the blanket, a switch must be pressed to heat it up. I'm trying to figure out if I can bypass that or if there are products that don't have this feature. A quick review of the guts of the device doesn't show an easy way to bypass the switch.

Any ideas would be appreciated,
Thanks!

Tape the switch down?

it's a touch switch so taping doesn't work (that was the first thing I tried). The switch must be depressed once after power is on.

Have any pics? That will help everyone help you out.

Could you turn it on, then wrap it around your vessel? Use a ratchet strap to hold it in place and depress the switch at the same time???

I'm not sure where the switch is located so I'm not sure if that would work.

can you just cut the switch out and wire it directly?

I use these:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000F54AOW/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

no safety switch or auto-off mode.

-tch

Pictures are in the Amazon listing link I posted above. Strapping it around the vessel and pressing the switch is not a problem but once it reaches temp, the thermostat will cut the power. Later, when the power is turned back on, the unit will be off, even with the switch depressed. It must be released and then pressed to turn on the unit. Very safe design, my loss.

I also took a look at wiring around it. There seems to be some control logic in the blanket itself - the juice is cut off when the power supply is disconnected from the blanket. I'm going to go over it tomorrow with a multimeter to see if I can spot where on the circuit board, the current shifts when the unit turns on and try to short it. Got nothing to lose except a heating blanket that I can't use for my brew.

Thanks for the product link tom_hampton. That's a great find, I'd need 3 to get an even heating around the keg but that should work. Seems like hitting a local drug store or superstore and getting something I can see, check and return is the way to go if I can't make the blanket work.

I had a hard time finding something without an auto-shutoff, but good luck. I found one that I could disable, but the other ones were microprocessor controlled, and couldn't be bypassed.

That's why I ended up with the one I linked to. I have 5 of them.

I didn't notice that you were using a BLANKET, until I'd already posted. It looks harder to find a blanket size without all the stupid safety features.

This stuff looks interesting:

http://beanfarm.com/product_info.php?cPath=1204_1205&products_id=5569

Looks like its $3.60 per foot and can be wired directly to 110VAC.

Looks pretty ideal.

Yeah, I also found this, the same stuff in a pad shape with protective plastic and a plug: http://www.reptilebasics.com/ultratherm-heat-pads/ultratherm-undertank-heater-uth-11-x47/

That looks pretty nice and durable. Looks remarkably like a fermwrap, but longer.

I'm going to be giving one of these a try on one of my sanke fermenters. I've been using an old heating pad on a 1/6bbl fermenter for a batch of mead. If it's close to temp, and I put (the old pad) on the low setting, it stays within a degree of where I want it to be. I'm looking to put the second one on a 1/4 (tall/slim) bbl fermenter when it arrives. I'll just monitor it to ensure I can maintain the temperature I want.

Ended up picking up two of these:http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/walgreens-heating-pad/ID=prod3354992-product.

A little duct tape and a splitter plug and it looks like it will do the trick.

You need to press the power button with this model but tape (and a plastic cutting board "foot") does the trick nicely.

I'll post an update once I've used this for a few sessions.

I know this is an old thread but I was just researching this as I am about to brew a lager and I am going to ferment and lager in my garage. I was going to buy a heating pad at wally world but found a travel throw that has no thermostat nor auto shutoff, just plug it in and go. It was about $35 and is large enough to go around a fermenter bucket or carboy, and it has an adjustable elastic strap. I'm planning on putting it in a 5 day cooler that we have and putting it in the coldest part of the garage, and throw a blanket over it. I am rigging up an Omega temp controller with a thermocouple that I am going to tape to the side of the fermenter. Relay output to switch the heated throw on and off.