That is a great mod - easy to do, and very valuable. I wish the factory would adopt it. With it in place, you never have to work with that outside switch again - and I hate that outside switch!
If you are electrically handy, and willing to undertake a small additional project, it is easy to make it even a bit more useful by adding some status lights.
If you look behind the panel, you'll find that the switch is mounted on a metal or plastic box, which is about 2 inches wide. Replace this box with a double-size (double gang) box that is the same height, but about 4 inches wide. You'll mount this box off-center, so that the left side of the box, behind the blank panel, is empty, and the right side holds the switch as you see it now.
Get two small 120-volt lights, one red (or yellow) and one green. They are readily available, and cheap. For example, Radio Shack has some that will work, part number 272-712 for red and 272-708 for green. No matter where you get them, you want relatively dim lights so they don't keep you up at night.
Drill two holes in the front panel, one above the other, and centered over the empty half of the box. Mount the red light in the upper hole, and the green light in the lower hole. Connect the two wires from the red light to the two screw terminals on the switch. Connect one wire on the green light to the output (switched) screw terminal on the switch, and the other wire from the green light to the white wire that is already in the box, probably in a wire nut.
In operation, when the red light is lit, it means the switch is off, but power will be applied as soon as you switch on. When the green light is lit, it means power is being applied to the water heater.
This is not failure-proof - you can still switch on the heater when it is empty, which will burn out the element. But it is a great stop-and-think reminder.
Bill
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