🔌 Gardner Bender Electrical SK GSW Switch Review

This door switch looks nice but only time will tell how many on-off cycles it will sustain. Installation is easy if you have the tools and skills to cut a deep pocket in your door jamb for the electrical control box. Typically the switch is recessed about midway in the door jamb at the hinge end of conventional doors or at the end of sliding doors so that when the door is closed the switch plunger is compressed and released when the door is opened. However, I installed it on a double pantry…

There are a few things I considered when choosing a door switch. Those factors were overall dimensions, steel thickness (general quality), faceplate (appearance), and the switch itself. Now the faceplate on this model is beautiful, with a superb finish! The metal case is thinner than other switches I've bought for comparison, but overall the quality is good. I also liked that this model is narrower than the other models, which allowed me to install it without cutting out the stop. The only…

Fact: The light switches are on the lock side of the door, not the hinge side. I first installed a magnetic reed switch on the latch side of the door frame to control the LED lighting in the pantry. Because the current allowed by the switch was low, a ½ amp buss fuse was installed on the blank switch plate and connected to the circuit. About a year later the reed switch failed so a replacement was ordered. The original supplier was no longer an eBay member so someone else ordered the switch. As