Why would my Water heater trip my circuit breaker?

Question

Today I noticed my waterheater had tripped the circuit and then a little later we had a power surge and then my circuit breaker tripped again. Then so far this evening I have had it trip 2 more times. The last couple of times I have heard a grinding sound when the circuit trips. I don't know what to do. The Waterheater is only about 2 years old.

Answer 1

Tough call to make.......but if the house is new....my guess is it's a faulty water heater.......Know you don't want to hear that...but something is causing that breaker to kick in order for your house to be safe.  So it could just be an element in the tank.........I would get a new one(tank) Does the popoff valve on the tank show any sign of steam coming out.  Sorry ,all the best.

Answer 2

You haven't drained your water heater and the lower element is probably shorted out.

Answer 3

Verdugo: NEVER UPGRADE YOUR BREAKER TO A HIGHER CAPACITY.. DON'T DO WHAT PUPPY LOVER SAID. .  YOU DO THAT AND YOU FOR SURE HAVE A FIRE. REMEMBER THAT WAS 17 YEARS AGO... IN MY HEAD I FORGET WHAT I DID LAST WEEKEND!....

Answer 4

Odds are you have a bad element in the waterheater that is grounding out. That is the most common electrical failure.

I would guess somebody had kicked the power on to it before it was filled with water and damaged the element if it failed so soon. But sometimes stuff just happens.

There are companies here that ONLY do water heaters and minor plumbing. I would guess that would be your best call.

With a two year old house a bad breaker is even less likely.

Good Luck.

Answer 5

It really sounds like you need a bigger circuit breaker to handle more amperage.

When it trips, it is a good safety factor.

My husband wired our whole house 17 years ago and I learned a lot from him.  :)

Answer 6

Is the water terribly hot? Then I would say the upper and lower t-stats are fried. Other than that if an element burst in the tank then the resulting shorted tank will throw the breaker but not immediately. Why? Because both upper and lower thermostats work separately. The bottom will come into play first. When it is warm enough then the top will finish the cycle. So if the bottom is OK then the breaker won't flip until the top thermostat kicks in.

Answer 7

You need to get an electrician out to look at it.

Im guessing you have a shorted out heater.

Whatever the reason I would leave it off until you get the electrician to find the cause.

A breaker is made to trip when there is a problem.

If the breaker is tripping its doing its job.

Dont ever put in a bigger breaker.

The breaker is sized according to the size of wire that is being used for that circuit.

Answer 8

the grinding sound you're hearing sounds like a ground fault, to me, and that will disrupt the harmonics causing your load center to humm. do not turn the breaker back on, the fault is most likely in the water heater, unless somehow the wires from the panel\loadcenter to the heater were damaged ? if one was so inclined they could find out by disconnecting the water heater and turning the breaker on but this should only be performed by an electrician.

so call an electrician and check the warranty on your water heater.

hope that helps.

cheerz

Answer 9

The water heater could be starting to go bad. It also could be wired wrong. Given the age of the house,there is a very good chance that something may be loose in the connections,causing a short and making it trip. If you want to find out,pull off the cover,and  GENTLY "tug" on the wires to see if they come looose from the wirenut. If so turn off the power to that circuit,remove the nut retwist the wires with pliers and reinstall the nut,being careful not to punture the tip of the wirenut.

Answer 10

Call the electrician just to be safe. The water heater could be tripping for a number of reasons like a loose element wire or faulty t-stat