Heating element protection: your boiler never heats unattended

Updated 9 October 2026AmpySmartKnob

When you control a heating element with the boiler widget, Camper Jarvis keeps a double watch. The most important thing first: your heating element never keeps heating unattended.

Who does what?

The SmartKnob is the brain of your boiler. It knows how warm the water is, when to stop and whether the heating element is running dry. Ampy is the hand: it only switches the heating element on and off. Without the brain, the hand would not know when to stop.

What happens if the SmartKnob can no longer be reached?

If the SmartKnob has failed or has no power, for example, while the heating element is running, Ampy waits 10 minutes (this is the default setting). If the SmartKnob does not respond during this time, Ampy switches the heating element off by itself.

After that, it stays off

The heating element does not come back on by itself, not even when the SmartKnob is back. You consciously enable it again once by resetting the fuse in the dashboard. This way nothing starts unexpectedly, and you always know that something happened.

Active straight away, even after a power cut

The protection is stored in Ampy itself. After a power cut or restart, it is back straight away without you having to do anything.

Only for heating elements

Lights, fridge, water pump and everything else simply keep running without the SmartKnob. The protection only applies to heating elements, because without control they could get too hot.

Good to know: on the railways, this kind of thing is known as a dead man's switch: if the control stops responding, things are switched off safely. Camper Jarvis sets it up automatically as soon as you set up a heating element in the boiler widget.

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