Bypassing the water level switch with a fuse would be more advisable than a heavy gauge wire.
I'm surprised these machines have no fuses.

Eric:

In this case, am I correct in thinking that the OP could diagnose that switch (with machine unplugged) by making sure there is water in the reservoir and checking resistance/continuity across those leads - with an open circuit or high resistance being conclusive that he needs to replace or repair the switch? I can appreciate that if the switch is causing intermittent failures the best way to diagnose it would be to bypass it, then plug it back in for a test. And of course he might opt to use the bypass as a temporary measure until he can fix the switch - making sure that the reservoir is always full when the machine is on.

Pat -

All that you say is, of course, correct.

Thank you all for your help!
Once I bypassed the magnetic sensor as Eric suggested everything operated as it should.
Once again you guys all rock. Thanks for getting me back up and running.

-Jose