Message from @John O -
Discord ID: 354711282479267840
You have a short, brother.
@Havamal Did you do any work recently at your house? Did you hang any pictures?
@Deleted User Haha, he is pretty tall.
Everything else in the house seems to be working just fine. I put an inquiry in on the AO Smith website because the element is 208 volts and 3500 watts, which apparently is rare, even on their website, Lowe's, and Home Depot websites.
It probably wasn't that, it's just a personal paranoia.
Hmmm
If you have a multimeter, and you want to spend a little while in the init, you can always try to diagnose it yourself.
I might try that. I need to get a multimeter. I also have a discounted service plan with plumbers and electricians through a package when I bought my house.
My dad suggested the element going bad. He is prone to paranioa, but knows a lot more than me when it comes to this stuff. Thanks, guys.
@Deleted User I'm about to qualify to take my Journeyman's test. I have two options for the next few years:
1) Stay with the company that I started with, who have told me numerous times that I am foreman material, but are the lowest paying electrical contractor in the state
Or 2) Move to a rich, liberal city, save some money, find a state that I want to live in permanently, buy some property, and start working towards my Master's
Obviously, becoming Master is the next step, but would it be too bad to put it off until I'm 30?
@Havamal sorry I've been at work. If you go to the water heater and disconnect the two wires that go into the water heater and feed it and cap them off and turn the breaker on if it holds and does not trip then your heating element is bad. I don't recall exactly how much they are but you drain the water out take a big wrench or socket remove the heating element and then reverse the process and turn it back on
I've taken the POS and neg off the element and tried to flip the breaker and it still is tripped.
I didn't cap them, though
@John O - a lot of contractors will continue to blow smoke up your ass as long as you let them. If you pass your journeyman's test I would ask for a little bit more on the hour maybe a dollar. I do not know how busy you are or how much work is in your area. Any experience is good experience. If you're in an area where work is ample sometimes you will benefit by making a move to another contractor. I was 31 before I got my Master's license but you did not really have to have one at that time. Now you're supposed to have a master electrician on each job here in my state.
@Havamal you know you have to turn the breaker to the complete off position first and then back to on. If the element shorted out it could have taken out the breaker with it. You need to pull the panel cover off disconnect the two wires from the breaker and try to turn the breaker back on if the breaker holds then the wires compromise somewhere between the panel and the heating element
I'll try that. Thanks! @Deleted User
@Havamal okay yes if you take the wires off and reset the breaker and it won't hold then the breaker is bad but the heating element may be bad as well. If you have a continuity meter you can test the heating element. Put the meter on continuity and put one lead on each of the two screws where the heating element was fed. If it does not ring continuous then it is open. You can also test from each screw to the metal shell of the water heater to see if it's shorted to ground. Basically if it does not ring continuous the element is bad
@Deleted User In Florida, you only need one Journeyman per 4 workers, but that's not enforced. You don't need a Master on the job.
The only reason to get the license is for the Contractor license.
I'm probably going to go with option 2. Just wanted to see if you had any relevant advice one way or the other.
I don't think they're blowing smoke up my ass. Construction is booming here, and they need guys who can show up sober to be management.
Yes it is similar here once you have over certain amount of men on a job you need to have any Master on the job.
I'm not sure if this is electrical but...we moved into a new house and the plug for the dryer is one of the older, 3-pronged ones. I switched out the cable on our dryer to fit. Now the dryer isn't drying like it used to, as in we have to run it on multiple cycles. Could this be due to the new, ungrounded cable or is it just a coincidence?
When you switched the four-wire cord and put the 3-wire cord you may have miss landed one of the wires. The three prong cord will attach to the ground screw which is green and the other two terminals will go on the black and red respective terminals in the dryer you were possibly running your dryer off 110 volt instead of 220. I don't know if I making any sense it's been a long day
Also when you go from a 4-wire to a 3-wire cord like that you will have to put a small wire jumper between the white terminal and the green screw inside the dryer the ground and the neutral go to the same place in the panel so you have to fake the dryer out into thinking it has both. So just make sure the new cord is landed on the red and black Terminals and the ground wire goes to the green screw but you put a small jumper between the Green screw and the terminal where the white wire landed in the dryer originally
Thanks so much. I'll have to pull it out and look at it as I read this.
Make sure you unplug that that 220-volt hurts
You either put one of the hot legs on the wrong terminal or by not putting the jumper in between the ground and the neutral the controls are not getting the neutral they need to operate as a 110-volt entity
I'm headed home if you have any trouble just post something and one of us will get back to you here in a few good luck
Thanks. What's a jumper, just a regular old wire or something specific?
No it's just a small piece of insulated wire you don't want it to be too small a piece of number 12 gauge wire or a piece of number 10 would be great you want to make sure it's insulated and it simply goes between those two points you jump one terminal to the other you want to make sure that the wires tightened Down Under the screw sufficiently if you have more than one wire under the screw
Here's what it looks like now, before doing anything.
I also just noticed what looks like a burned area on the black.
Okay I'm sorry I was thinking you were going from a 3 wire to a 4-wire cord or 4-wire to 3-wire cord. You were switching one 3-wire cord to a different 3-wire cord is that correct?
No, I had a 4 on there, and changed to a 3.
Okay the cord you have on is connected properly I did see a burn matk on one of the terminals. It's possible that you shorted out one half of your two pole breaker when you did that go to the dryer breaker in the panel turn it off and turn it back on one half of that breaker may have tripped internally when you turn it off and turn it back on it resets it do that and then run the dryer see if it gets hot if it doesn't you may have to test voltage. You can test for the 220v at the dryer receptacle and if you don't have it through the problem could lie in the breaker try resetting it first
What's happening is the dryer is trying to dry on half of the voltage which tells me that one half of the breaker is not operating
They're connected
Yes that is called a 2 pole breaker it has two Hots. One half of that breaker could have went out if you touched any of the terminals together turn it off and then turn it right back on. If you have a way to test the voltage at the outlet try to test the two like slots and see if you have 220 Volt across them