Hot Water Heater Disconnect?

[quogueelectric]

this is my favorite

this is my favorite

If you are going to argue about using one type of receptacle being used outside it's intended purpose, let me tell you a story.

I once did a service call at a restaurant. They had a piece of equipment that just didn't work. Upon arriving, I used my volt sensor and detected voltage. But the digital display would not light up. I then started taking things apart.

The equipment was a 208v coffee maker (Builiding was 3-phase, so it was operating on 208). The receptacle was a NEMA 14-50, a standard 120/240v 4-wire range outlet.

I was absolutely stumped. Until I got out my meter.

The receptacle had been originally installed for a 3-phase 208v mixer, so the center (W) terminal was 120v to ground. The original equipment installer had simply used a 4-slot range recep, and used the 3 flat blades as the 3 phases, plus the U-ground. The cooks decided to move the mixer somewhere else, and here was a perfectly good receptacle that just happened to have the same NEMA configuration as their coffee machine.....

So the electronics in the coffee maker had all of it's smoke released by an energized neutral connection, and they had to go buy another machine with new smoke in it.

Had the correct receptacle been installed as it should have been (a 15-30), this whole affair would have been avoided.

Bedtime story.

 

[480sparky]

Bedtime story.

Sorry, I forgot the "Once upon a time....." bit.

 

[frenchelectrican]

I did see some waterheaters some of them used the dryer cord Bejezzsss you should see some of them the repectale is allready smoked.

I did have one service call one comuster called me they claimed they smell something burning. sure i came over and find the curpit my nose telling me something is cooking pretty hot. [ a hunch cooked wire is first thing it came in ]

when i approched to the water heater oh man .,, what a wacky job this guy was proud he actally change the connection on the waterheater instead of normal operation he reconnection so both heating elements kicked in and to make it worst the OCPD was a 50 A breaker with #10 conductors running to the plug.

To fix that i end up replaceing the conductors , put in a disconnection switch [ common A/C pullout device ] and reconfaging it back to sequeal operation and correct OCPD as well.

Merci, Marc

 

[mdshunk]

,, what a wacky job this guy was proud he actally change the connection on the waterheater instead of normal operation he reconnection so both heating elements kicked in

I've seen that a couple times, and I wonder what makes people think this is a good idea? I really don't see the benefit. Quicker recovery, maybe? Code violation anyhow, since you can't have over 45 amps per heating circuit anyhow. (I think it's 45. That's off the cuff).

 

[kbsparky]

.... Code violation anyhow, since you can't have over 45 amps per heating circuit anyhow. (I think it's 45. That's off the cuff).

Ummm .... 9000 watts@240 Volts = 37.5 Amps. That does not exceed 45

Of course, if you consider the 125% rules, then you end up with 46.875 but now we are really splitting hares..... :grin:

I have seen water heaters wired for simultaneous element operation, and we had to feed them with a #8 type SE cable. They wanted ultra-quick recovery, me thinx :-?

 

[Wiretech]

Yeh, its an appliance... :grin: And its not a hot water heater, if the water is already hot then there is no need to heat it.. sorry I couldn't resist...

I tell people this all the time, and they usually give me a funny look and call me a smart "you know what"!! I tell them I would rather be a smart one than a dumb one!!:grin:

 

[Wiretech]

I wonder what crow taste like.:grin:

 

[Wiretech]

You betcha. Within sight and within 50 feet. Sometimes the breaker in the panel is sufficiently close to qualify.

Yep, I done this a few times, utility room with the breaker panel and water heater in it with no disco, no problem.

 

[M. D.]

I wonder what crow taste like.:grin:

Wonder no longer ,.. everything you never really wanted to know about crows can be found here

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/crows/crowfaq.htm

I have had several opportunities to sample the flesh of crows (I will not go into detail about how this came about, but remember this is a legally hunted species). In my opinion, crow tastes just fine. It is similar to wild duck or any other wild bird with very dark meat. Crows have no white meat on them, as is true for most birds. (Whenever someone says something "tastes like chicken" remember that they're talking about the DARK meat of chicken, not the white.) The meat of most wild birds is even darker than the dark meat of chicken, and will have a gamy smell and flavor to a varying extent.