YAHT: water heater is tripping the circuit breaker

[FoBoT]

the circuit breakers (2 ganged 30 amp) for the water heater keep tripping

i suspect the heating elements first, right?

i am going to get a meter (my old one is crap, so i'll use this 'reason' to get a new one) and then

turn off the breaker

check each lead on each element to ground, isn't it most likely that one of the elements is grounded? isn't that the most common way the elements fail? or not? or do they short phase to phase? if so, what is a normal resistance reading phase to phase?

if i can't determine it is one of the heating elements, then what should i check? the breakers? does home despot test circuit breakers?

if i need to replace a heating element, about what do they run? $10 $30 $40 ?
are the heating elements in dry wells or will i have to drain the tank?

thank you

 

[Antisocial Virge]

Chances are its just a short in the element, thats what normally goes wrong. Now if you can figure out why the motor starter at work keeps kicking the overloads even after we changed the motor and starter I would be happy Little more voltage though. 480 3 phase.

EDIT : You will have to drain the tank.

 

[Rastus]

Yes, it is your element. They are cheap and easy to replace.

What happens to them is the mineral buildup over time insulates them from the water and they get less efficient. Then they burn themselves out. Be prepared to use a hacksaw to remove the old one though. The buildup sometimes distorts the shape enough that you have to cut it to get it out.

 

[FoBoT]

maybe it won't be too hard to remove the element, it is only 2.5 years old

thanks dudes


should i just put 2 new ones in while i have it drained and skip trying to figure out which one is bad?

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
maybe it won't be too hard to remove the element, it is only 2.5 years old

thanks dudes


should i just put 2 new ones in while i have it drained and skip trying to figure out which one is bad?

Good idea to replace both at the same time while you have the tank drained anyway.

 

[fredtam]

It is flipping the main? It doesn't have a reset?

 

[fredtam]

This is more likely a loose connection or bad breaker.

 

[sharkeeper]

If the breaker trips immediately, you have a faulting element or wire. I've seen thermostats short to ground as well.

If the breaker trips after a few minutes, both elements are running at the same time. This is caused by a faulty thermostat. A VOM is your friend when troubleshooting simple electrical appliances!

Cheers!

 

[glen]

One of my best friends lost a brother who was working on a water heater.
Electrical ones are very dangerous, even if you know what you are doing.

 

[OrganizedChaos]

you could use a clamp ammeter to check if the breaker is tripping where it should be

 

[NascarFool]

It is one of two things:
1. bad element
2. bad thermostat.

 

[FoBoT]

it trips after many hours or days, not immediately


it first did it a couple weeks ago


then last week it did it once

now it seems to happen 2-3 times a day

after resetting it, it will heat the tank back up and work for a few hours or more , but it won't go more than 1 day before it trips again

i was thinking i might just disconnnect one element. then see if it still trips. then swap them. this should prove one or the other element is causing the problem?