Hot water heater circut breaker pops

Hello,
I was wondering if anyone would take a moment and help here.
I have a 3 year old water heater (will get information on it on demand)
Problem is that it seems to pop the circut breaker at times, sometimes 1x a day (or once every 3 days) and then it didnt pop the past week.
Resets easily. Except for today where it made a occasional pop noise from the heater wall. Also dims the lights, when it pops, smf when it does pop nothing else is off.
Any suggestions or do I need to buy a new one?
Thank you for your time.
John

JohnA wrote:
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You didn't specifically say it is an electric water heater, but assuming it is, then...
Chances are a heater element (your heater may use one or two, you didn't specify that either) has developed a electrical short to its case and that's what's making the breaker pop.
If you know what you're doing, then use a clamp on ammeter to measure the element(s) current(s) when their thermostat(s) are powering them on and see if it jives with their wattage. If if the current is too high you're onto something.
Alternatively, open the circuit breaker and remove both leads from the element(s). Use an ohmmeter to see if you can spot leakage from the element terminals to ground. If you measure less than 100K ohms, you're onto something there too.
If the above doesn't make sense to you fughedit and call a pro.
Jeff

Have you known a gas water heater that was hooked to electricity?????

Power vent
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Steve Barker wrote:
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All of them are, unless you have an old one with a pilot light. Nowadays they all have complete shutoff of the gas when not in use, and electric controls for same.
nate

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I got a new (gas) water heater installed last year. There is no electrical connection. One new thing, there's a button to push to light it.

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What planet do you live on? Go to Menards/Lowes/Home Depot and see how few require electricity, and how many have pilot lights.
JK

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B S

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My power vent gas water heater is, as all have to be, and I am sure that the on demand gas ones are the same way. Duh!
JK

On Sun, 04 Mar 2007 00:39:41 -0500, Jeff Wisnia
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How would a gas water heater make the light dim? :)
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I could also be a bad control. I had one burn out and it really fried. Smoke and sparks and the whole shebang. The dizzy woman I was with at that time freaked out and called the fire department. I admit there was a lot of smoke, but shutting off the breaker would have stopped it.

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1x a
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from
pop
The first step is to determine what the problem is. There are three possibilities.
First possibility is that one of the elements in the water heater is shorting and drawing too much current.
Second possibility is that there is a problem in the wire running between the breaker and the heater.
And lastly the breaker is faulty.
I would kill the power to the heater, then remove the cable from the water heater. Assuming you have two elements, pull the covers off of both and remove the wires from both of them. Using the ohm meter measure the resistance on each, it should be pretty close to the same for both. If one of them has a lot lower resistance then that is likely your trouble.
If they check out OK, then first check that there is no continuity on the two wires that were attached to the heater (breaker still off, heater still disconnected, and that there is no continuity from either wire to ground.
If that test holds, then your wires are probably OK.
Reconnect the heater.
If you have another 240 breaker of the same rating for your stove or something else you can swap the two breakers between the circuits (if you know how and feel comfortable doing this.) if the problem goes away or reoccurs on the other circuit then the breaker is suspect.
If you have not found the problem by now, it is either time for the electrician or perhaps you could disconnect one of the two elements in the water heater and see if the problem goes away, if it does not then try running only the other element.
I am no expert, but this should isolate your problem. I suspect one of the elements is the most likely suspect. If that is the case you will probably need a 1/2 inch drive socket of the appropriate size (get a size point) and a breaker bar. Heating the thing with a torch is also a good idea.
Be sure to kill the power, then drain the tank, then replace the element, then refill the tank, then reenergize the circuit. If you don't do it just that way you will wish you had.
Good luck.

The circuit stayed fine thru the night, I ran some hot water and cautiously opened the 2 panels on it to see if I could examine anything out of place and (not knowing or touching anything) but it did make a pop/knock sound in the tank while looking at the tank.
I put the panels back and it brings a question to mind... Why are there 2 thermostats on the tank?
Tank info: I do not see a year on it. Raheem for manufactured homes, model 71-52d b, wattage 240/208 upper and lower 4500/3380 50 gal and yes it has a double circuit switch.
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Call rheem for production date:)
Most likely you have a baD BREAKER THEY ARE DESIGNED TO GET MORE SENSITIVE AS THEY AGE.
I would begin by replacing breaker its a low cost repair:)

If he has a popping sound at the tank, the circuit breaker would be the least likely problem
wrote:
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Call rheem for production date:)
Most likely you have a baD BREAKER THEY ARE DESIGNED TO GET MORE SENSITIVE AS THEY AGE.
I would begin by replacing breaker its a low cost repair:)

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pop[ping sound may be water boiling in tank, breaker is most likely....
bad element would likely be trip often...
intermittent bad breaker

" I would begin by replacing breaker its a low cost repair"
I suppose you would then move on the next least expensive thing, like the upper element, then the lower element, then the lower thermostat, then the upper, and ultimately the feeder cable, and eventually one of your guesses would pay off?
I'd go with Roger and Jeff, who actually give info on how to diagnose the problem, instead of senselessly throwing part after part at it
wrote:
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pop[ping sound may be water boiling in tank, breaker is most likely....
bad element would likely be trip often...
intermittent bad breaker

wrote:
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pop[ping sound may be water boiling in tank, breaker is most likely....
bad element would likely be trip often...
intermittent bad breaker
One thing says no to the bad breaker, lights dimming. That indicates a wiring problem causing a heavy drain.

John, aside from testing the various parts to determine the cause of the problem, also check the conductor size and circuit breaker size. Your water heater requires a #10 copper feed cable and a double pole 30 amp circuit breaker
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"E18679 (UL) AWG 10 CU 2 CDR with AWG 10 Ground type NM-B 600 Volts" and the 2 connected breakers say "25" on both of them

Typically, it would be AWG # 10 on a double 30 as it's a more readily available breaker, but the amperage of a 4500 watt heater is 18.75 , which makes a double 25 just fine
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