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What I have checked on this is as follows:
1. Getting 125V in power to the switch.
2. Switch works as on the other side of the switch, when it is off, I have no power, when turned to on in range of heat I get 124.9V (in range)
3. When probing the wire on switch side of thermal breaker - 124.9V.
4. Checking wire on the other side of the thermal breaker, I only get .1V
5. To make sure the element is still good and wasn't fried, I checked resistance and meter reads 19.4.
I am new to troubleshooting with reading the multimeter, am I doing alright with this?
Could the thermal breaker be the problem? Do you think this is the way it is supposed to read? There is no water in the tank so maybe there is some way that the electrical can pick that up, even though there are no sensors in the tank. Help!
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Originally Posted by: APPNewbie  What I have checked on this is as follows:
To give more info, I filled the tank up with water and the voltage on the other side of the thermal breaker is still the same @ .1V.
Any help would be appreciated.
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Originally Posted by: APPNewbie What I have checked on this is as follows:
1. Getting 125V in power to the switch.
2. Switch works as on the other side of the switch, when it is off, I have no power, when turned to on in range of heat I get 124.9V (in range)
3. When probing the wire on switch side of thermal breaker - 124.9V.
4. Checking wire on the other side of the thermal breaker, I only get .1V
5. To make sure the element is still good and wasn't fried, I checked resistance and meter reads 19.4.
I am new to troubleshooting with reading the multimeter, am I doing alright with this?
Could the thermal breaker be the problem? Do you think this is the way it is supposed to read? There is no water in the tank so maybe there is some way that the electrical can pick that up, even though there are no sensors in the tank. Help! Newbie, Sounds like you've got an open thermal fuse(thermal breaker). You're doing good with the meter as well. You should have the same voltage(124.9 volts) on both sides of the thermal fuse. Your sensor(s) for the tank, is part of the control assembly and the way it is mounted to the tank. You should also check, each end of the heating element, for a short(closed circuit) to the metal case, to see if it may have shorted inside the tank. Something caused the fuse to open, shorted element, bad control, or just a weak fuse. Part number: AP3129157
Good Luck, :) :) :)
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Originally Posted by: Joe / APP Team Newbie, Sounds like you've got an open thermal fuse(thermal breaker). You're doing good with the meter as well. You should have the same voltage(124.9 volts) on both sides of the thermal fuse. Your sensor(s) for the tank, is part of the control assembly and the way it is mounted to the tank. You should also check, each end of the heating element, for a short(closed circuit) to the metal case, to see if it may have shorted inside the tank. Something caused the fuse to open, shorted element, bad control, or just a weak fuse. Part number: AP3129157
Good Luck, :) :) :) Joe, thanks for responding. How do I check for a bad element? Should I take the element out before testing it? The tank is not mounted to the case unless you want to consider the styrofoam pieces that it sets in. It only has the wires connected to it including a ground from the tank to the case.
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Additionally, I put the red and the black probes on each end of the element at the same time and read 19.4 for resistance. Does that matter?
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How do you think the thermal breaker works? If the unit was turned on when no water was in it, would that cause the T. B. to break the current. To my knowledge, this did not happen. Do you think the TB is only kicked off when the heat from the element reaches the location of the TB? The TB is mounted on top of one of the element posts about 1-1/4" away from the top of the element. Thermal to me means that heat would be involved to trip the breaker, but I guess that a short would also give it a shot of very hot elec. current.
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I guess what I could do to check the element is cut the TB out of the line, put water into the tank and see if it heats up. Unless you have a better way, which I am sure that you do. Thanks for your help.:confused:
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I removed the element and saw no shorts where it was mounted to the tank, looked for burnt areas, etc all around the connections, but nothing. How can I check the element to make sure it is good?:confused:
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Originally Posted by: APPNewbie I removed the element and saw no shorts where it was mounted to the tank, looked for burnt areas, etc all around the connections, but nothing. How can I check the element to make sure it is good?:confused: Newbie, You basically did that when you read the resistance across the element(19.4 ohms). You could apply 120 VAC to the element, with a test cord, but be careful, it'll get hot, and don't short it out. Have you had any water supply problems or voltage problems, before this occurred ? :cool: :cool: :cool:
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Originally Posted by: Joe / APP Team Newbie,
You basically did that when you read the resistance across the element(19.4 ohms).
You could apply 120 VAC to the element, with a test cord, but be careful, it'll get hot, and don't short it out.
I will do that after I re-install it back in the tank and connect it up properly
Have you had any water supply problems or voltage problems, before this occurred ?
I am not aware of any of the 2 items you listed.
:cool: :cool: :cool: I do have a question about the thermal breaker, BTW, I ordered it this morning. The reason for this placement as I indicated in above posts, is this simply for heat or current? Why would the breaker not be one that would automatically go back to closed position when heat dissapated? The only reason I can think of is that if this process keeps happening, the wire that supplies the current would wear out and nobody would know until a fire that there was a problem. Just my guess.One more question: The T-stat is for controlling the temp. in the tank. I am reading 124.9 volts at the low side of the t-stat and the same at the high side of it. Does this mean that the t-stat is malfunctioning? How does the element know how hot to get if not for the T-stat? You mentioned in your earlier post that there may be a malfunction with T-stat. Should the current be less at the low side of the T-stat? Not sure how it works but the above seems to make sense. It seems that the T-stat should govern the amount of elec. going to the element. Whadya think?:confused:
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