Which Circuit Breaker Switch to Turn?

[kyphysics]

My home water heater is messed up.

If I want to reset the circuit breaker for it, which should I turn? There are three:

1.) garage (where the heater is located)
2.) water heater/dryer
3.) heat pump

 

[BvU]

Flipped breaker should let itself be known !?
Anyway, first unplug the suspected device before resetting a breaker.

 

[berkeman]

My home water heater is messed up.

If I want to reset the circuit breaker for it, which should I turn? There are three:

1.) garage (where the heater is located)
2.) water heater/dryer
3.) heat pump

Do you mean that you want to turn off the appropriate circuit breaker to be able to safely work on the water heater (is it hard wired to power with no outlet?)? Or the water heater tripped the circuit breaker and you need to reset it?

When a circuit breaker trips, it goes to a soft slightly middle position that is not always obvious visually. If you push each breaker in turn towards the ON position, the non-tripped ones will feel solid, but the tripped one will be slightly springy. That is the one you would cycle OFF and then ON to turn it back ON.

 

[kyphysics]

yes to reset

 

[berkeman]

Do you think the water heater is okay now, or might the breaker trip again? Can you unhook the water heater from AC Mains before you reset the breaker?

 

[kyphysics]

Do you think the water heater is okay now, or might the breaker trip again? Can you unhook the water heater from AC Mains before you reset the breaker?

I'm not sure if it's okay right now. We had some power/electrical company person come by today to supposedly remove some sort of outdated water meter device. We got a letter from the company they would do this a long time ago.

However, when they showed up, there was no call ahead of time. I was part naked and taking an afternoon nap. I went to answer the door in groggy state and some dude I did not recognize asked me to check if my water heater circuit breaker was tripped. I was thinking "HUH?"


He didn't introduce himself, tell me what he was doing, etc. I asked him what he was doing/talking about I think and he alluded to doing the thing the city's electrical company said they would be doing. I said I didn't know how to check that (although, I did...just hadn't done it in a long time). He said to look for a label and see if the circuit breaker was tripped. I said I wasn't sure (I honestly just wanted to go back to sleep, I think...I was barely conscious of what was going on). He said he'd do it for me. I aggressively told him not to do that. I didn't want him coming into the garage.

I have COVID-19 fear, due to the death of my uncle. I didn't want him coming into the garage without me prepping the area, as it's very cluttered. Didn't want to explain that and just said I'd check myself.

He seemed annoyed and left. I checked and it LOOKED like nothing was tripped.

Then, I showered several hours later and ran out of hot water much faster than normal. I thought: "Oh, no!...that dude probably did something earlier that tripped the circuit."

I went to garage again and saw that MAYBE the water heater circuit was tripped. I did have the "middle position" look, but NOT all the way to the off position. Then after reading online that's EXAXCTLY how it DOES look when tripped, I was like, DARN!

I have tried resetting it. But, we don't have hot water yet. It's also:

a.) very loose and not a tight switch and EVERY OTHER switch on the circuit breaker area. For some reason THAT switch is kind of loose (always has been) and kind of hard to push/pull hard.

b.) attached to THREE OTHER switches.. You cannot move JUST that switch. It's in a quad. You have to move all four at once. However, the loose one gets flipped too quick. It's hard to get right. I was told you have to flip them simultaneously and hard. But, that switch is loose and difficult to pull/push hard and even more so as part of a quad.

THUS, I'm not sure what's up. THe electrical dude never said what to do if the circuit breaker was tripped. He didnt' say just reset it and your water heater will be back on. I wonder if it would have required OTHER WORK? He never said and just left after I said I'd check myself. Maybe I'm not coordinated enough with my fingers to properly reset it. Sometimes you have to do these just right for the reset to work.

Lastly, no have no idea what an AC Main is.

 

[anorlunda]

If your circuit breaker is in the "in between" position, that means it has tripped. If you tried to reset it and it tripped again right away, then something is seriously wrong on that circuit. You don't want to burn down your house and your family, so I strongly suggest that you hire a licensed electrician.In any case, getting tips from the Internet is a bad idea. Get local professional help.

Thread closed.