KMoffett Agreed SSR's are hard to beat for rugged on-off mains switching and a safe way to do it.
One caveat: they leak, so bear that in mind. The load is usually enough to drop the voltage caused by leakage - but open circuit, or with light loads, you may see some voltage there.
You can build an SSR for lots less than a new one costs. ~$1--2 for a triac and $0.20 for a zero crossing opto isolator, last time I stocked up.
Don't sell the z-cross opto isolators short either - they can control about an amp directly, so are great for driving electromechanical relays, solenoid valves, equipment power switches, etc.
One of my stoves range controls has a picaxe controlling the heat. Costs less than the $25+ they wanted for a new electromechanical control. One DPDT relay for safety, but modulation of the heater is done by a SSR under control by a picaxe. Working like a champ for a month now - with a tricolor led flashing the power setting. I like it so much, I plan to replace the working controls with more picaxe ones. The range eats 7 amps at 240 volts. The old bimetalic controller had a period of 45 seconds for PWM control and the 'axe is working at 3 seconds with a slow pwm output.
