Intermittent hot water heater problem

550Doug · Nov 4, 2017

It happens about two or three times a week where the breaker will trip on my hot water heater. I just reset it and it goes on heating just fine for a couple of days, then it trips again. My thinking is that one of the elements is going bad but I won't be able to find out which one until it has a complete failure, then the breaker will just fail to reset. At that point I'll be able to test and discover the bad element.
But as time goes on I'm wondering is there any other way to easily find the bad heating element, other than just replacing both elements?

Bob · Nov 4, 2017

Just to be absolutely clear... breaker in your breaker panel is tripping, or is the reset button on the upper water heater thermostat tripping?

If circuit breaker in breaker panel, (if you know how to do this safely) examine the breaker to see if it's making poor connection where it "stabs" into the panel, and TIGHTEN the screws where the wires connect.

If limit on heater is tripping, it MAY be that one of the elements is failing/shorting and continuing to heat the water when the thermostat shuts off. Typically, they only "break" one leg of the 240 Volts, and a shorted element can continue to heat the water 'till the limit trips, which breaks BOTH "legs" of the 240 Volt power.

Could also be a thermostat that occasionally sticks.

550Doug · Nov 4, 2017

It's the breaker in the electrical panel.

Stephen Newell · Nov 4, 2017

Breakers are cheap. You might try replacing the breaker and see if you have one that has gone bad. It's a lot less work than replacing an element anyway.

showcrop · Nov 4, 2017

Don't even THINK about replacing one element and not the other.

Russ from MN · Nov 4, 2017

I would be suspicious of the breaker, first check all the connections, both where it snaps on to the
bars in the back, and the screws where the wires connect. Is the breaker hot at all when it trips?
Can you switch it with another breaker of the same amperage? I have never had a burned element trip a
breaker, but I suppose it's possible. Good luck and post a follow-up!

Russ from MN · Nov 4, 2017

When we had problems it was always the bottom one, never the top. Then we installed a softener and
the problem went away!

CKain(MI) · Nov 4, 2017

I say yes, the breaker... They get weak and do not hold the amps they are rated at.

kcm.MN · Nov 4, 2017

I bought a new breaker few years back, was bad from the start. Bought others one time and didn't notice that some yahoo had dropped a breaker in with other slightly different breakers. Didn't take long to figure out why only one breaker ended up costing a little more than the others!

MarkB_MI · Nov 4, 2017

It is rare for the upper element to fail, since the lower element gets much more use.

If you happen to catch it the moment the breaker trips, immediately get your multimeter and remove the access panel to the heater. Then reset the breaker and see which element has voltage. That's most likely to be the bad element. This test won't work if the water heater has time to cool down, say 30 minutes, because once it cools off it will switch from the lower to the upper element.

550Doug · Nov 4, 2017

(quoted from post at 13:27:14 11/04/17) It happens about two or three times a week where the breaker will trip on my hot water heater. I just reset it and it goes on heating just fine for a couple of days, then it trips again. My thinking is that one of the elements is going bad but I won't be able to find out which one until it has a complete failure, then the breaker will just fail to reset. At that point I'll be able to test and discover the bad element.
But as time goes on I'm wondering is there any other way to easily find the bad heating element, other than just replacing both elements?

I decided to empty the tank and check out the bottom element. When I got access to the bottom element I found that one wire (red one) hooked onto the right side of the element was severely blackened with some melted plastic nearby. I cleaned up the connection and the wire, removed the element and found it to be nice and clean and with the proper ohm reading. I also checked the 240V breaker switch in the panel and found one wire discolored, so I cleaned up those connections and refilled the tank. Over the next few days I'll see if it trips again.
Thanks for all the advice. It sure is nice to have a network like this to tap into.

showcrop · Nov 4, 2017

(quoted from post at 13:58:10 11/04/17)

(quoted from post at 13:27:14 11/04/17) It happens about two or three times a week where the breaker will trip on my hot water heater. I just reset it and it goes on heating just fine for a couple of days, then it trips again. My thinking is that one of the elements is going bad but I won't be able to find out which one until it has a complete failure, then the breaker will just fail to reset. At that point I'll be able to test and discover the bad element.
But as time goes on I'm wondering is there any other way to easily find the bad heating element, other than just replacing both elements?

Click to expand...

I decided to empty the tank and check out the bottom element. When I got access to the bottom element I found that one wire (red one) hooked onto the right side of the element was severely blackened with some melted plastic nearby. I cleaned up the connection and the wire, removed the element and found it to be nice and clean and with the proper ohm reading. I also checked the 240V breaker switch in the panel and found one wire discolored, so I cleaned up those connections and refilled the tank. Over the next few days I'll see if it trips again.
Thanks for all the advice. It sure is nice to have a network like this to tap into.

We used to run into that all the time on commercial dishwashing machines. The constant cold-hot cycling would eventually degrade the crimp-on terminals so that they would loosen from the screw on the element. This would cause the wire to heat up which would cause the insulation to burn. We carried tungsten replacement terminals, and changed them out whenever we encountered this problem. We got the terminals at the local hardware.

MarkB_MI · Nov 4, 2017

Certainly cleaning up those burned connections is a good idea, but I'm dubious that will fix your problems. Although a bad connection can cause a motor to draw more current, heating elements are simple resistive devices. A bad connection will cause the element to draw less current, not more.

kevinthefixer · Nov 4, 2017

(quoted from post at 14:41:47 11/04/17) Certainly cleaning up those burned connections is a good idea, but I'm dubious that will fix your problems. Although a bad connection can cause a motor to draw more current, heating elements are simple resistive devices. A bad connection will cause the element to draw less current, not more.

eah, likely the wire in the breaker box was causing the breaker to trip. But good job you found the bad connections in the heater too, just a matter of time before you had bigger problems there.

Intermittent hot water heater problem

550Doug

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Bob

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550Doug

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Stephen Newell

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showcrop

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Russ from MN

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Russ from MN

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CKain(MI)

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kcm.MN

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MarkB_MI

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550Doug

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showcrop

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MarkB_MI

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kevinthefixer

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