[STL-RENOVATIONS]

first I want to say thank you to anyone who replies to help mw out I really appreciate it because I've been wracking my brain over this. I just bought a 4 family flat partially renovated and it has a brand new Rheem 40 gal electric hot water heater. Everything was hooked up except the wires to the breaker. At the heater has 10 gauge wire, black to black, red to white, and ground to the grounding screw. Then it runs in conduit all the way to the box and we hooked up the black and white wires to a double pole 30amp breaker and the ground to the ground screw. We filled it up until it was full and flipped on the breaker. Waited 30 minutes, nothing, 1 hour, nothing. Thinking my next step is to check power is going to the unit, any other suggestions to check? Thank you

 

[darren]

Is your breaker sitting on both phases in your panel? Quickest way to test is to see if you get 240V at the tank. if you have 120V from each wire to ground but not 240V between the two wires you will need to move the breaker.

 

[brric]

First question is why do you have white wire in pipe for a 240 volt circuit? That is a code violation.
Better post photos of the wh connections and the panel connections.

 

[ER2]

first I want to say thank you to anyone who replies to help mw out I really appreciate it because I've been wracking my brain over this. I just bought a 4 family flat partially renovated and it has a brand new Rheem 40 gal electric hot water heater. Everything was hooked up except the wires to the breaker. At the heater has 10 gauge wire, black to black, red to white, and ground to the grounding screw. Then it runs in conduit all the way to the box and we hooked up the black and white wires to a double pole 30amp breaker and the ground to the ground screw. We filled it up until it was full and flipped on the breaker. Waited 30 minutes, nothing, 1 hour, nothing. Thinking my next step is to check power is going to the unit, any other suggestions to check? Thank you

Darren's prolly right. Your 2 pole breaker has to be across 2 different phases. Could be as easy as moving the breaker, but if you're not qualified, hire someone. Don't try to be a hero. The white wire is a code violation but not a huge safety issue. My concern with that would be, if they did that wrong, what else did they do?

 

[dmxtothemax]

What is the voltage measured between
The black wire and the white wire?
Does the unit produce any heat at all?

 

[STL-RENOVATIONS]

Thanks for your replies, it has produced no heat at all, I was thinking to check the breaker when I get back so ill let you know on that, and as for the white wire is it not ok to use a white as power if you put electric tape on last 4 inches to mark it live, I see that alot here on building we work on

 

[Oso954]

If you were working with 10/2 NM, you could remark the white. But you are in conduit where remarking is not allowed with that size wire.

 

[joed]

It is only OK to use white for power when cable is used because cable comes with black and white wires. If yo have conduit the wires pulled is up to you and you need to use two coloured wires for hot. Normally you would use black and red but any colour other than white, grey or green is acceptable.

 

[STL-RENOVATIONS]

thanks I actually just pulled all the wires and ran a black red and green and going from there new again and test if I have 240 from the box before we hook it up

 

[Jim Port]

If the old WH worked the breaker should not be an issue. They can fail but it is rare.

What does the thermostat say?

 

[STL-RENOVATIONS]

Its a brand new water heater never used I ran new wires to it hooked up to breaker and have 120v of I test one wire with ground and 240 testing the black and red together going to drain the unit refill purge for r and re hook up electric

 

[beenthere]

Did you try pushing the reset button.

 

[STL-RENOVATIONS]

Yes it was all the way in

 

[Cement_Frank]

Have you tried turning it off and on again?

 

[joed]

Did you turn up the thermostat?

 

[dmxtothemax]

Have you checked that voltage is actually getting
To the element?
Use a meter on the elements terminals.

 

[Big_John]

Was the WH full of water before you tried energizing it for the first time?

Have seen new elements burned open because someone tried heating up an empty tank.

 

[STL-RENOVATIONS]

Got it working! It was something with the wiring, not sure what but after new wires and breaker its hot! Thanks everyone!