"Ignoramus24227" wrote in message
...

On 2014-02-02, RogerN wrote:

That might work, it's kind of a gray area. I need to be able to adjust
the
amps where it kicks OFF and the amps where it kicks ON. For example, if
my
heater takes 10A then I don't want to turn it ON until the line current
drops to 4A or less, but it doesn't need to kick out until the amps get
up
around 13-15A.

Do not overthink this, do it with a particular current limit like 4A
and enjoy a working system.

For that I'd have to get to downstream wires, either get the current relay
in the wall or splice wires out to an electrical box. If I tried it at the
breaker, the heater kicking ON would cause the relay to turn ON, causing the
heater to go off, and back and forth. At the breaker, I can set it to turn
the heater OFF at 14A and not kick back on until it's below 4A, the 10A that
would allow my heater to run on reduced power, around 8A.

The advantage of combining current limiting and a programmable thermostat
seem worth the little extra to me. Either a thermostat or over current cut
off requires turning the heater ON and OFF(the high current expensive part),
add a temperature sensor ($2) and a current sensor ($5) does it all in one.

RogerN