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| water heater cofusion | Rate Topic |
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| Posted: Thu Mar 4th, 2010 06:34 pm |
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1st Post |
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sampson Member
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I have a 50 gallon Richmond water heater. The other day it started to blow some fuses, and also popped out the reset button once. I took the covers off of the thermostats, and on the bottom one there was some light burn marks on the insulation, and on the outside of the tank where the cover is. There was also a small amount of water in the lower comparpment, I think I could of spit more than what water was present. The wires did not look to be burned. The part that is confusing me and worrying me is that the WH is wired with 12/3 cable in a black sheath, then at the fuse box wich has two 30 amp fuses in it, also has wiring coming out of it going to living room, and bathroom. I believe the WH is supposed to be on its own circuit. This is how it was wired when I bought the house. The 12/3 wire in the box is hooked up like this, red wire is hot, black wire is hot, white wire is to the nuetral bar, and the bare ground was not hooked to anything, at the WH it was red to red, black to black, and the white wire was hooked to the green ground screw, bare ground was cut off. It did not look right to me with the white wire going to ground. It has been this way for 5 years since we moved in and worked fine, till the other day. Put new fuses in and it would run for 2 to 3 hours and not shut off,even with no one using hot water, I unhooked the wires from WH it was making me nervous. Money is tight, so redoing all of the electric is not an option right now, any help would be great, ecspecially on the part of hooking up the wires to the WH. THANK YOU
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| Posted: Fri Mar 5th, 2010 01:46 am |
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2nd Post |
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energyexpert Member 
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1. Yes. WH should be on a separate circuit. 2. A 4500 watt element at 240 volts should draw 18.75 amps. If a 30 amp fuse blows you either have a short or overload. The top thermostat is suppose to power either the top element or the bottom thermostat, not both at the same time. If the top thermostat malfunctioned and powered both at the same time you would draw 37.5 amps which would blow the fuse. But you could not operate two hours at 37.5 amps. 3. 4500 watts will produce 20 gallon/hour at 90F rise. 3 hours at no usage should be adequate to reach thermostat temperature unless water is very cold and thermostats are set to maximum. 4. Thermostats only switch off one leg. If you have a crack in an element sheath, it will continue heating using the water as ground. A 4500 watt element should read 12.8 ohms screw to screw and 0 ohms screw to ground. If you have a crack in an element, in the short run you can take the conductor which is not switched (usually right side of the thermostat) and terminate it on the neutral bar instead of hot. Now with only the switched leg hot, when the thermostat opens the element will have no power. Water will take 4 times as long to heat. 5. National Electric Code identifies a WH as a "continuous use" appliance so circuit conductor must be sized at 125% of load. This means technically #12 is too small and should be #10. However, I have seen plenty of WHs wired with #12. 6. The white wire should be taped green if used as a ground. Unless the power supply is a service panel, grounds are not permitted to be terminated on the neutral bar.
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| Posted: Tue Mar 9th, 2010 07:46 pm |
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3rd Post |
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sampson Member
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Well I bought a new tank, and took the old one out took a saw and cut it in half to see what is on the inside. Well I found the problem with it the bottom heating element was cracked wich was making it ground out and blow the fuses. I am kind of glad it was the WH instead of a problem some where else in the wiring. Could not believe all of the scum that was built up in the tank already, and is only 4 years old. When I drained I screwed the drain all of the way out, and now see why alot of the crap in the tank can't get out with such small holes to drain through. Suprisingly the steel tank looked in very good shape. Thanks for your help energyexpert, and what a great site to learn about water heaters.
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| Posted: Wed Mar 10th, 2010 04:02 am |
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4th Post |
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elenano GCF-GL
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I like you! You cut water heaters open to see what's inside! You're a member of a pretty small fraternity. We could call it Tau Kappa Omega -- Tank Cut Open..... That said, I'm going to put in a shameless plug for you to install a flush kit in your new water heater. A straight-path ball valve and curved dip tube will keep the scum buildup under control, but probably won't eliminate all of it. Be sure and tell me the height of the tank from the top down to the drain valve if you order. I need that to custom-bend the dip tube. I find it highly entertaining that there are only three sources for curved dip tubes in the entire world: Larry Weingarten, who invented the concept, and two people he trained, one of those being my humble self. You're right about the factory drain valves. They're worthless. Randy Schuyler
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