| www.iFourWinns.com https://www.smwebhead.com/phpBB3/ |
|
| Water Heater Short https://www.smwebhead.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7265 |
Page 1 of 1 |
| Author: | firecadet613 [ Wed Apr 06, 2011 9:04 am ] |
| Post subject: | Water Heater Short |
Picked up my boat from its winter storage and am getting some projects done today. Sanitizing the fresh water system and I have shorepower plugged into the house. When I turn on the hot water heater, it trips the GFIC on the house where its plugged in. Any ideas? |
|
| Author: | Sierra [ Wed Apr 06, 2011 9:15 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Water Heater Short |
You didn't power up the water heater without water in it, did you? |
|
| Author: | firecadet613 [ Wed Apr 06, 2011 9:33 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Water Heater Short |
I believe I had turned it on and then realized the fill valve was still thrown to bypass it. It was staying on and then I realized it was off shortly after it had filled with water. |
|
| Author: | Sierra [ Wed Apr 06, 2011 9:37 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Water Heater Short |
I'm no expert about the resultant effects, but I do know that you will quickly fry the heating element if there is no water present. |
|
| Author: | firecadet613 [ Wed Apr 06, 2011 9:45 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Water Heater Short |
Thanks. My gut tells me that's what happened. |
|
| Author: | firecadet613 [ Wed Apr 06, 2011 3:04 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Water Heater Short |
Element checks out fine. Easy to get to and check, but if you have to remove you need to take out the front hold down bracket which looks to be a pain. Of course it tripped while I wqas messing with it and the heater was off so I have an issue with my extension cotd hopefully as that's the cheapest fix! |
|
| Author: | Sierra [ Wed Apr 06, 2011 3:33 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Water Heater Short |
You didn't mention the extension cord. Be VERY careful you're not overburdening whatever you're using - household extensions cannot handle the current you're demanding of it. That's how fires start. Glad your GFCI was working (and that your element is still good). |
|
| Author: | cougarcruiser [ Wed Apr 06, 2011 3:56 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Water Heater Short |
definitely make sure your cord is rated for amperage. Those heaters are power happy. And if you have other things on as well - that could make it much worse |
|
| Author: | firecadet613 [ Wed Apr 06, 2011 5:41 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Water Heater Short |
What's odd is all last year and the year before that it was fine. Ill just pick up a new 10 gauge cord and be done with it. That heavy duty cord is a fair chunk of change! |
|
| Author: | firecadet613 [ Fri Apr 08, 2011 10:52 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Water Heater Short |
Not sure how to explain it. Tried it with the boats shore power hooked up with the new extension cord and still same issue. Decided to fire up the genset, and it worked. For the hell of it I switched it back to shorepower and it stayed on. Now its fine. Not sure what caused the issue. |
|
| Author: | Paul I. [ Fri Apr 08, 2011 3:40 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Water Heater Short |
What tripped it was a short between hot & ground. What ground is the question? Now your saying, tell me something that I don't know!! It just could be moisture from the winter months between the connections at the panel. Was it damp in side the boat?? Just a thought, since it works now. On the cords, use the heaviest cords starting from the GFI and make the run as short as possible. |
|
| Author: | firecadet613 [ Fri Apr 08, 2011 3:49 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Water Heater Short |
Whats weird is it tripped, 5 minutes later it ran off the genset, and 5 minutes later it ran off shore power. |
|
| Author: | Thalasso [ Fri Apr 08, 2011 8:22 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Water Heater Short |
GFCI does not work off of the ground side. What it does is measures the load imbalance between the hot and nutral. If these are out of the ranges it will trip. |
|
| Author: | Paul I. [ Sun Apr 10, 2011 6:14 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Water Heater Short |
Thalasso wrote: GFCI does not work off of the ground side. What it does is measures the load imbalance between the hot and nutral. If these are out of the ranges it will trip. What I am saying, if there is a leak from hot to ground it will trip. Which is is that " load imbalance between the hot and natural." More current is being pulled from the hot side than the natural side which will cause that imbalance. Forgive me, thats why it is a ground-fault circuit interrupter. It only takes about 5 milliamps for this to trip, so the leak could be small. |
|
| Page 1 of 1 | All times are UTC - 6 hours [ DST ] |
| Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group http://www.phpbb.com/ |
|