Light timer in laundy room.?

Hi. Any clue why this light timer is in our laundry room? We have a single overhead light in there. Not sure if it is hooked up to something else. Kind of weird to me. I attached a picture. Thank you.

 

The manual button is in the upper right hand corner.
Have you tried pushing it to see if it activates anything ?

If that is near an outside door maybe it operates an outside light or receptacle.

 

Ah...thank you. It turns the vent fan on for which there is no other switch for. Could it possibly automatically turn the fan off after a set amount of time? Trying to figure out why a timer and not a normal switch.

 

I have no idea why a timer was used. If you don't like it... replace it with a switch.

 

Thanks. I will have to pull it out and see how it works.

 

I have seen fan timer switches used in bathrooms to shut the fan off after sufficient time has passed to eliminate the moisture/humid air following a shower. It could be that the laundry room gets humid while doing the wash, and the switch serves a similar purpose.

 

Venting the laundry room regularly is the most likely explanation but if your home is new and well sealed, it might serve to provide some air exchange each day. The settings I see there look like 6 AM ON, 9 AM ON, 1 PM OFF, 4 PM OFF if I am seeing the colors of the pins correctly. Seems excessive for an air exchange especially if the fan runs at full speed. Some newer exhaust fans have low speed for continuous air exchange and switch to high speed (by manual switch, occupancy sensor, or humidity sensor) for time needed to vent an area like a bath or laundry room. A timer could also provide that function.

 

Thanks evryone. They have some weird stuff going on in this house. We just got new laundry machines and haven’t noticed any issues. Room is on the second floor. Would have been nice if they put a drain in the floor maybe. Not sure how often washers leak all over the place but our previous home was set up that way

 

Laundry repairman many years, Have only seen a few washers leak for any reason other than hoses breaking or pressure switch going bad. Keep hoses replaced every 5 years and never leave house with washer running.