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Water Heater Part II - Printable Version

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Water Heater Part II - Halfathumb - 02-28-2016

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh91/...p;1456680694656

This is an addition to my previous post. These elements were just installed Feb. 1, 2016. 2 days ago I replaced the 2 thermostats, worked for a couple of days then not. So I pulled these out and was really surprised to find these. The bent one is the bottom element.

Anyone ever see anything like this before?

TIA Jim


Re: Water Heater Part II - Snipe Hunter - 02-28-2016

Is it wired correctly?


Re: Water Heater Part II - blackhat - 02-28-2016

Are they the correct voltage for your application?


Re: Water Heater Part II - Halfathumb - 02-28-2016

blackhat said:


Are they the correct voltage for your application?




They're marked "45400W 240V" and "3500W 208V" which were the same I had that lasted 2 years.

Snipe Hunter: Black Hat told me about a week ago that you can't cross the wires in the elements.

Tomorrow I'm going to send these pics to the folks I got them from and see what they have to say.


Re: Water Heater Part II - MKepke - 02-29-2016

it's not entirely clear to me from the pictures what happened but I think I see a split in both of the heating elements? you also mention one of the elements was bent.

I am NOT an electric water heater expert at all but my understanding is that a common cause of split elements is water getting into the elements themselves causing the magnesium oxide powder to expand and split the copper casing.

My understanding is also that a very common cause of bent elements is an overheat condition for example if the elements are not submerged in water before they're turned on. The excessive heat causes the elements to become soft and bend - normally water heater elements cannot be easily bent by hand.

not sure from the description if this is what you mean by bent or if the bending was simply a result of the splitting.

-Mark