Hi all,
Looking for some advice from someone more knowledgeable than I when it comes to electrical. If you know the difference between wire and pipe, you probably fit the qualification. 🙂
I have a vacation home where I installed an electric water heater some years ago. When I arrive for a stay I turn on the water heater at the circuit breaker and when I leave to go back home I turn it off. Often when I turn it on it will not take the on position but rather takes the tripped postition. Kinda like it trips rather than turn on. On the 2nd try it always stays on. I suppose circuit breakers are not meant to be an on/off switch, but to my knowledge water heaters do not have a real switch of their own and using the breaker is pretty normal. Perhaps turning mine on and off once a month or so is wearing out the breaker? lets say I have turned it on 50 times over the past 8 years if that gives an idea of it possibly wearing out. Any ideas as to why the breaker is behaving this way?
Thanks
Ron
Replies
It may be that the breaker's getting a little "weak". There are breakers specifically designed to be used as switches, but most have a relatively limited number of on/off cycles -- on the order of 100, I would guess.
Is that 100 figure for the breakers designed to be switches or the regular ones. Sorry, just wasn't sure from the wording...
If the breaker has SWD on it, it is switching duty. Without that it is a crap shoot.
OTOH there is supposed to be a disconnect next to the water heater anyway so maybe you should install one.
The hundred figure would be for regular breakers.
Of course, I'm basing this off of 50-year-old information in that as a teen I came into possession of a demo breaker with one side made of clear plastic and a trigger button so you could see how it tripped. I played with the thing quite a bit and discovered that the "bearings" that the innards pivoted on were just pins set in the plastic sides, and very quickly the plastic wore away. I'm sure I set and tripped the thing a thousand times before the insides actually self-destructed, but wear sufficient to cause a malfunction probably had occurred after 100-200 cycles.
The switch action of the circuit breaker is still feeling solid. I have seen them become loose with use. Sounds like it would be good to be prepared for the day that it refuses to turn on. I did some reading since my first post and learned that its best when turning on a cb that there is no load on the circuit. Altbough if it is one made for switch duty I suppose that would not apply.
Ron
In all the years I've had indoor plumbing I've never had an electric water heater.......
but, there's a thermostat on the unit I would suppose. Isn't there a setting of zero or off?
There is a thermostat -- actually two. You have to remove the screws from two metal covers (OK, maybe they're plastic now), spread apart the insulation, and use a screwdriver to turn down the two T-stats. With your screwdriver tip about 2" away from the 240V wiring. Been awhile since I looked at one,but I THINK they have an OFF position, though can't say for sure. And they're not really designed to be operated much either -- probably the friction in the dial would begin to disappear after 100 or so cycles.