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why is my hot water heater not working?
first off let me give you a little background information. This is a ge electric water heater with 2 heating elements. the other day i came home and my sister said the water got scalding hot then went cold. i figured it was a heating element so i tested for power across the upper heating element and had 120v's.
i replace both heating elements and the thermostat/circuit breaker on the hot water heater (i suspected it of sticking on) and when i refilled the tank i was no longer getting power across the upper element.
the circuit breaker for the water heater is old, it has 2 switches with 2 fuses underneath each switch. i found 1 bad fuse and replaced it and still nothing.
since then, i ohmed out both new coils and they tested good (around 11 ohms). when i test voltage between ground and the hot wire i get 120 volts...but also 120 volts when i test between ground and the neutral wire. what would cause this?
sorry if its something simple, im new to testing ac voltage in a house and the concept is very hard for me to grasp...
so the open breaker is techinically also a open neutral? originally i was thinking i had an open neutral wire. all of the fuses are good, i ohmed them. now that i think of it, when i switch the lower heating element switch on i can see the electricty arc but not on the high side (which also makes sense because that would cause lower heating element not to work). im not doubting your knowledge, just want to make sure i understand exactly whats going on. Thank you! Also one more question, i thought that because its 220v that meant 110v go to each upper and lower coil.
I did properly fill up the tank and bleed the air out of the pipes before turning the hot water heater on. I measured resistance of the elements before i installed them and now and they havent changed. i know the elements are good.
the breaker is an old styled one with 4 fuses. it has 2 switches (one for the upper and one for the lower) and 2 30 amp fuses for each switch. 4 total. if one side of the breaker is bad/open on the neutral side of the upper element wouldnt i see 120 volts when measuring from neutral to ground because its seeing the 120 volts supplied from the hot wire?
thank you for helping me understand this
2 Answers
- William BLv 79 years agoFavorite Answer
you still have a breaker bad
or a fuse
replace them both with a new style breakers
your only getting 1/2 of the voltage
should be 220 volts across both element wires
Source(s): maint man - Corky RLv 79 years ago
You mentioned changing both elements of the heater tank, which may have been a slight overkill, especially with all the thermostats, etc, which you also changed. Anyways, when you change elements in an electric water heater, you MUST WAIT for the water to fill the tank completely to the top, removing ALL THE AIR, usually by bleeding it off with either the relief valve or one of the hot side faucets in the home, before turning on the electric to the unit. This must be done till the water runs clear and at full swell. If electricity is introduced to the elements of the heater before they are covered completely by water, they will burn off instantly. These elements are made to operate underwater, not in the air. The new heater elements should test at 12.3 - 12.7 ohms across the two screws, any reading higher or lower than this should be discarded.
The thermostats on dual element heaters are non-simultaneous in action. It starts out by heating the water with the upper element first, till the temp. of that water reaches whatever temp the new thermostat is set at, then it shuts that down and switches over to the bottom element, heating the water in the lower portion of the tank to temp. set., then shuts down. If both elements would come on at the same time it would take over 60 amps at the breaker to hold the load and the wires would probably melt.
As for your electrical testing, you should get 110/120 volts between one hot side and the neutral or ground and the same on the other hot side to the neutral or ground. I see no reason for any voltage to be present between the ground and the neutral, other than poor wiring at some other juncture of the system.
The 220 volt system DOES NOT SEND 110/120 TO EACH ELEMENT, 220/240 volts goes to each of the elements, in it's own turn. It takes the 220/240 volts to run the elements.
Source(s): 45 + years of home building, remodeling, repairing and maint.
