Issues with water heater

[mikenehrkorn]

Hoping someone can provide some guidance....

We have a small water heater (I think its 10 gallons) at the cottage and every time it tries to switch on it is tripping the breaker. It's fairly new (2-3 yrs old) and worked fine at the end of last season. Any thoughts on what might be the cause?

Thanks.

[slipperyrockTKE300]

My guess would be a corroded heating element.

Do a continuity check, you'll find out if it is bad or not.

Easy and cheap fix.

I replaced the elements on my home water heater with a lifetime guarantee pair from home depot. Well worth the difference in price.

Hard water can be a heater element killer.

[mikenehrkorn]

Yeah that was my first thought as I think I replaced that on my previous heater too.

How does one do a continuity check?

[slipperyrockTKE300]

Need a multi meter.

Unfortunately I did not save the web site that led you thru this step by step. Do a google search on trouble shooting electric water heaters and you'll quckly find all the info you will need.

One word of caution....make sure you turn off power before doing anything AND completely drain the water heater before pulling out the element!

Here is a decent resource: http://homerepair.about.com/od/plumbingrepair/ss/element_replace.htm

[Boatdrinks797]

If you do change the element make sure to keep the power off until the tank fills back up. Or, you will be replacing it again. If it's not that, your GFI switch could be bad as well. Both cheap and easy fixes.

[mikenehrkorn]

Yep, it was the heating element -- not even a need for test, it pretty much fell apart when I got it out. Thanks all for the help!!