Our best builder customer installs a Navien water heater with recirculation pump in all of his homes. He has us wire a motion sensor in every bathroom, and a push button in the kitchen, laundry room, etc. which trigger the recirc pump to turn on.

The push buttons we use are basically doorbell buttons without a light, and there's never an elegant place to put them, especially in kitchens. So someone came up with the idea to put the button in the toe kick under the sink. Only problem is that a doorbell-sized button is too small a target for someone to blindly kick with their foot.

So I'm looking for an enormous rectangular (or square) push button that I could install in a toe kick. Google hasn't
been a lot of help. Any thoughts?

Hi,

I seen several that are large enough but I don't know if they would hold up in that application because they are mostly plastic.

A few examples:

[Link: allelectronics.com]

[Link: allelectronics.com]

[Link: allelectronics.com]

Frederick

Look in the access control world.

There are plenty to chose from for entry to doors secured by maglocks.

Think hospital emergency rooms.

Something like this [Link: adiglobal.us]

There is like 4-5 pages of them on there of different styles.

Check out [Link: automationdirect.com]
Call them us and I'm sure they'll help you out.

This also may be a good opportunity to offer lighting control.
Less than a grand for basic Control4 brain and couple of keypads.
Great way to come in behind and offer few (or many) switches once the homeowner moves in 'since the controller is already in' :-)

Well we have started to tie the motion sensors at least in the master bath into our C4 controllers so they can perform double duty for lighting & other automation as well. Personally I think the whole water recirc idea is silly in practice, & I don't think many of the homeowners really even use the push buttons. So I'm trying to come up with the absolute easiest way for them to press the button.

If you want to use a smaller button but want a larger target, why not install a larger, thin, spring-loaded panel over the toe kick? That way, tapping any spot on the panel will close the connection. Obviously, if the toe kick is flat across the whole area, this isn't a good option, but many base cabinets for a kitchen sink are recessed.

My triggers are tied to the vanity lights in the bathroom.

Googling "large push button switches" yielded this:

[Link: delcity.net]

I first thought explosion-proof switches would be the place to check, but most of those have a guard around the button designed to keep it from accidentally being pushed -- you have to push right in the middle. This is an example of that:



All Electronics (not far from me) is a GREAT source for stuff like this.

There's this, from All:



And this from Allied. Yes, the button is plastic, but it will probably last just fine:



As mentioned, access companies should have something that will work. The plate that you smack to open a hospital door comes to mind!

[Link: securitybase.com]

The plate floats on springs and the switch is behind.

Great idea. There are several out there. Logitech Pop buttons are Wi-Fi, but can integrate with anything with Harmony hub. [Link: logitech.com]

foot-operated panic button
[Link: fimasales.com]

This might inspire some imagination. Basically, it's a telephone plate with an installed button.

Here's a switch possibility.

And a Leviton approach.

So if you already have C4 in the houses, why not use a wireless keypad and have 2 or 3 space button engraved. Looks elegant and when you meet with the client you can offer to replace it with something they'll actually use?

mount a motion sensor on the toe kick facing down? wave foot under
put a door sensor on the sink doors/laundry doors, open/close