Anywhere along the red for the lower element.Īnytime you're trying to sense current, you must remember the golden rule of AC mains wiring: NEC 300.3 all related wires must be kept together in the same cable or conduit, so that currents are equal/opposite in any group of wires, and thus, the magnetic fields thrown by those wires cancel each other out. It simply boils down to finding the right physical places to surveil the wires.Īnywhere along the green for the upper element. We can do that with magnetic reed switches, or better, Hall Effect sensors. Thus we are down to 'current or not' as the only thing we need to detect. infinity A, however this does not need to be disambiguated the circuit breaker will trip and change this to a 0A reading.In proportion to the current on the wire.Īnd there's no particular need to detect the amount of current on the wire - 10A vs 20A vs 30A - because resistive heating elements only draw current at one of three rates: AC electrical wires throw a considerable magnetic field

You're making this way harder than it is. (I am not going this route as I see now what I was proposing will not be safe. These indicator LEDs should be able to handle voltage without adding a resistor.

I basically just want to turn on the hot water and let it run until the thermostat kicks on the top element and make sure it is pulling approx 18 amps and then when the top clicks off and the bottom kicks on make sure the water heater is still pulling 18 amps. Would something like this be the best way to go.

It would be very easy to clamp around any one of the wires without disconnecting or touching them. Would something like this work? The wires from the main panel are connected to the top of the hot water heater and they are already separated approx 6 inches. Is it possible to add indicator lights to a hot water heater to indicate when an element is out? I have searched on the internet and I can't find any related information. DO NOT TRY WHAT I WAS PROPOSING AS YOU WILL GET SHOCKED AND KILLED OR YOU WILL BURN DOWN YOUR HOUSE AND BE KILLED.

How to add hot water heater to dredge