Water Heater Switch (revised pics)

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   Seems like I'm always forgetting to turn off the electric water heater switch when breaking camp. When we plug the pod into shore power to load up the fridge prior to the next trip, the water heater is already on, and of course I never remember this until just after I plug in the shore power. So then I scramble to open the outside access and flip the switch off. Fortunately there's always been enough residual water in the water heater tank that I haven't burned out the element yet, but it was probably only a matter of time. That switch needed to be made harder for me to overlook by moving it inside. I planned to remove the existing 110V switch from its original location and reuse it, but after poking around a bit I decided that was just going to be too much trouble. Looking under the dinette seat, I found extra 110V wire looped up and taped outside the water heater J-box. By simply untaping it and doing some minor rerouting, I was able to come up with quite a bit of extra wire, more than enough to add a switch inline. 

The 110V wire junctions have to be contained within a junction box, just like in your house.  A quick trip to Home Depot and $7 got me this: a shallow depth junction box, decorator switch, and switch plate with hidden screws. 

Others have suggested replacing the existing water heater gas switch with an ON-OFF-ON type, and using a relay with 12V switching voltage to drive the 110V water heater circuit. This way the existing hole underneath the sink could be used for the switch, the relay would probably fit in the existing J-box on the water heater, and no added holes would have to cut in the cabinetry. That solution would be elegant and probably that's the way it should have been done in the first place. However, with all that extra wire just hanging out there begging to be used, it seemed my method was the easiest, and cheapest way to go. So out came the saw: 

This switch is quite low profile, and sticks out less than the furnace and the wooden cabinet trim, making it less likely that it will be bumped and accidentally turned on. The 110V wires are secured to the inside cabinet frame next to the new junction box. Just turn on the original 110V water heater switch located outside and forget it, because now you can control the WH from inside the rPod.

The only thing missing was a pilot lamp of some sort to let you know when the WH was on. Digging through my junk boxes for resistors and LEDs and diodes (oh my) to make a pilot lamp wasn't cutting it, and a few minutes online followed by a call to my local Radio Shack let me know that they had almost nothing of any use in stock, at least for this particular project. The guy at the local electrical supply house suggested the switch below, made by Pass & Seymour, uses the same switchplate as the one I had. A few minutes with Photoshop and I had a label for the lower half. Photo shows pilot lit, water heater on:

Ahhh ... much better. Thanks to all for taking your time to give me suggestions on this project.