Water Heater Question

smokefan203

i sent an employee over to a home that i own about an 1hr away. Qucik question that i have is when he disconnected the piping in the home he forgot to shut off the power to the water heater. the heater is dry now since he drained down the system and cut the piping out. Question is what will happen if the heater is on with no water. Will the elements trip the breaker if it gets to hot. He just called me now at 2 in the morning and i am away until tomorrow night. what do you guys think. BTW i have the keys to the place. I can always have him go there and break a window to get in but i wanted to get your input first. thanks

JamesNLA

I say break the window. Sounds like fun.

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smokefan203

yea breaking windows is always fun but i was looking for an answer to the question

ChrWright

Breaking in is a waste of time.

If it's an electric water heater, the elements are already ruined.

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Ron The Plumber

Just the top element will be fried, since it's the first to be exposed to the emptying of the tank.

Top element heats the water first until it reaches it desired temp at that time the bottom one turns on, if top of tank never reaches it's desired temp, bottom will not turn on. So Bottom element is more then likely good still.

Railman

Smokefan quote: "...the heater is dry now since he drained down the system and cut the piping out. Question is what will happen if the heater is on with no water. Will the elements trip the breaker if it gets to hot. "

Since the heater was dry, I don't see how either element would still be good. The breaker would only trip if there's an overload, & a smoked element won't cause that. I'd say they're both toast.
Joe

masterk

For just a few extra $ I would just replace both elements.

Ron is right, the top element acts like a fuse, when it burns out no current will go to the bottom element.

Get an ohm meter and check both elements and let us know the results.

Ron The Plumber

Actually it's the stats that determine which element the power will flow to, power to lower element won't happen until the upper tank reaches it's predetermined temp setting.

But yes a few extra dollars and you can change out both elements, me I'd test them with an ohm meter.

Double-A

I agree, power should still be on to the unit, but the upper element will be damaged. If the lower one is damaged as well, then I would strongly suspect the upper t/stat as being bad. It should not have supplied power to the lower until it saw its set point temp.

The element should have been damaged well before that could happen. Only takes a couple of moments for those elements to overheat and be damaged.

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mdshunk

To borrow a furnace man's term, they call this a "dry fire" and it almost immediately destroys at least the top element in an electric water heater. A 10 or 15 dollar lesson. No biggie.

EDIT.... I've accidentally done it myself at least twice on brand new water heaters. Wire it up, and get all in a hurry, and flip on the breaker. Ten or 15 minutes later I think to myself, "CRAP!", when I realize that the plumbing was never hooked up to it yet. Not the worst thing a fella could ever do, but embarrassing anyhow. The plumbers are pretty understanding guys, and seldom back-charge for it. I guess they think you already feel bad enough. I always make it a point to puke a bit of water out of the T&P to prove the water heater has water in it before I energize it. If it's brand new construction, I generally leave it off, and let it up to the new occupant to switch it on when the need arises. Some guys might flip it on later on anyhow, just to have warm water to wash up with.

roullette

hands down those elements are burnt out.

take an electrical meter an ohm them out thats the only way to test if there still good. you might have lucked out and they could be ok but who knows if there toast after a few hrs or a couple days

Herk

When he drained down the system, did he also drain down the water heater? If the heater is still full of water, no problem.

If the power is on and the water heater is empty, pull the top element and replace it before filling.

And don't forget to turn off the power . . .

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Putty Truck

I think the house is burned to the ground and the fire burnt out the neighbors, too. There is a warrant out for your arrest.

You did fire the plumber, right? You know he did it on purpose, right?

Grumpyplumber

"Trade: Plumbing"
How does a plumber not know what happens when an electric water heater is run dry?

masterk

That was his second post!

mdshunk

I have sometimes used dry firing to make quicker work of removing an old cast iron boiler. Drain it, fire it up for a bit, then open the fill valve. Presto.... boiler pieces.