electric water heater woes

[CruisnGrrl]

my electric water heater keeps tripping the circuit breaker

nothing changed with the set up so i'm confused on why it's doing this.

this is the kind of circuit breaker i have (2 of them)
[img]http://homehardware.ca/products/300/36445141.jpg[/img]

sadly nat gas isn't available or i'd go with that.

water heater is at least 10 years old.

[invictus43]

If your water tank is in a location where damage were to occur should it leak, I would recommend having it looked at. Mine started acting funky and the next thing I knew, I had 6" of water on the floor. Obviously something is shorting out..the question is, why is it shorting? Is it leaking into the control box? Is one of the heating elements damaged??

[CruisnGrrl]

If your water tank is in a location where damage were to occur should it leak, I would recommend having it looked at. Mine started acting funky and the next thing I knew, I had 6" of water on the floor. Obviously something is shorting out..the question is, why is it shorting? Is it leaking into the control box? Is one of the heating elements damaged??

are heating elements replaceable? not worried too much about a leak, have a dirt floor basement.

[Scuba Steve]

are heating elements replaceable? not worried too much about a leak, have a dirt floor basement.

You can replace the elements but are better to changet the whole unit. Do you have hard water? If so the heater is probably full of lime causing the bottom element to overheat. Pull the bottom element and you will get piles o sludge clean the heater out and try again, that migh be all you have to do.

[SunnY S]

Usually if a breaker repeated trips, something is up.

Very likely one of your elements is shorting out. Very common problem on stoves, and hot water tanks.

Yes, most elements are replaceable on most hwt tanks.

.

[FullMotoJacket]

Like invictus said, something is most likely shorting out. At 10+ years, it's paid for itself, and if it isn't leaking now, will in the near future. Electric water heaters are cheap. Instead of throwing good money at bad, buy a new one. One of the box stores (Rona, Lowes, Home Hardware, Sears, CTC) will have the size you need on sale that week.

[roadtoruin]

seriously just replace it. New ones are only guaranteed for 6 years anyway.

[CruisnGrrl]

Like invictus said, something is most likely shorting out. At 10+ years, it's paid for itself, and if it isn't leaking now, will in the near future. Electric water heaters are cheap. Instead of throwing good money at bad, buy a new one. One of the box stores (Rona, Lowes, Home Hardware, Sears, CTC) will have the size you need on sale that week.

hah home depot is a rip off, i put in belleville the water heater is $200 more than the same heater in toronto. if i have to replace it (going to see if cleaning will buy me some time) will check out the other stores or wait til a trip to toronto and just bring it back with me.

as for hard water, it has 13 grains of hardness (not sure where that is on the scale) but it is also high in sulfur. eventually i do plan on looking at a water softener but have some other things to pay off first

[FiReSTaRT]

Ohm out the elements and you'll know if there's a short. Yes, they are replaceable, but I've never worked on one, always had gas. Ever looked into propane as an option?