Does anyone know what could be with my electric water heater?

Question

all of the sudden i had no hot water.

i unscrewed the front cover and there was a reset button like for a breaker, so i pressed it and the unit came back on. but shortly after the water got hot (i was able to take a shower) that built in breaker shut off again.

what could be causing the breaker to shut off like that? i'm guessing its not a short because it would not allow me to reset it and stay on for a while before it shuts off again.

just for info, i have installed (last year) a water recirculation unit so that hot water is available fast on the other side of the house. not sure if that would affect it

here are some numbers from it:

Reliance 1010

60 gallons

10 52 2ARS980

Answer 1

Perhaps your anode rod or heating element needs to be replaced.  Here's a link talking about water heater maintenance:

http://www.waterheaterrescue.com/pages/W...