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1st Electric water heater install

2K views 11 replies 7 participants last post by  unixb0y 
#1 ·
I wired up the hot water heater using 10.2 and a 30amp double pole.

It does not seem to be drawing any current. I don't hear any noise.

I checked the voltages and everything seems fine.

I opened up the thermostat access panel and the thermostat was already set to between 125 and 150. Closer to 150. Could it be that the little plastic indicator washer was set wrong? Should I crank it?
 
#2 · (Edited)
I hope you had a hot water faucet (not the tank drain) running steadily before you turned on power, to prove that the tank was full of water first.

Did you check both access panels. Each element has its own thermostat.

The upper thermostat selects between upper element (temp low) and lower element (temp attained). The lower thermostat selects on (temp low) or off (temp attained).

You can try twisting the thermostat screws a little each way but do not leave them above 140 without hanging around to do several actual temperature tests using a thermometer at a faucet.
 
#4 ·
I'm 100% sure the tank was full of water. I filled the tank last night.

Checked it again this morning.

I have both 10.2 wires going to the double pole breaker. The ground is also grounded to the pannel and the water heater.

I have a cheap ampmeter i bought and it does not register any amps leaving the circuit breaker but shows 120V.

To me, this seems wired correctly.
 
#8 ·
With the breaker on, check voltage at the breaker where the wires connect to it. You're looking for about 240 volts between the black and white wires.

If there is no voltage between black and white, the breaker is likely bad.

If the voltage is correct, above the top thermostat there is often a smaller high temperature limit thermostat. It likely has a black and red connected to the top terminals. (This is the same black and red you connected the black and white of the 10/2 to.) Check for 240 volts at the top terminals, if present, check the bottom terminals. If the voltage is absent, there is usually a red reset button on this thermostat, sometimes they are tripped from the factory. Press fairly hard, if it 'clicks' (it's unmistakeable), check for 240 volts at the bottom of this thermostat again.

Sometimes, the high temp limit and the top element thermostats are sort of a two-in-one type of unit. One of the bottom screws of the high temp limit likely has a wire on it, the other might have a sort of busbar, or link, to the top element thermostat.

When you're all done, there should be 240 volts across the 2 screws of the top element when the tank is cold. Once the top part of the tank is warm, the top element thermostat will switch power to the bottom element, and its thermostat.

Rob
 
#9 ·
With the breaker on, check voltage at the breaker where the wires connect to it. You're looking for about 240 volts between the black and white wires.

Rob
Rob I think you hit the nail on the head.

On the old ac breaker there is 240v across the two breaker screws.

On the brand new breaker, there is 0 across the two breaker screws and 120 between the screw and ground.
 
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