Moms water heater got the ol melty cap. Can I just cut this off and recap it or is there anything else I ehould be worried about.
melty cap
Moms water heater got the ol melty cap. Can I just cut this off and recap it or is there anything else I ehould be worried about.
Mine did that a few years ago. I cut off the bad part, wire nutted it back together, turned on the breaker, and it blew right away. I just went ahead at that point and got a new water heater, then cut the old one up and made a fire pit out of line half and a smoker out of the other half.
We had a guy at work who tried to recap his old super nintendo. He's a vegetable now
That black wire, which runs through her house, got so hot it melted plastic. You need to worry about why it melted.
Water heaters are generally 220, and on a dedicated circuit. Sure, it runs from the breaker box to the heater, but it's not quite the same as having lights and receptacles on the same circuit. It probably got hot because the connection wasn't the greatest, that's why it melted right there at the wire nut.
>poor connection
Oh ok. Didn’t know that.
This guy knows whats he's talking about what you have there kids is called a high resistance node in laymen terms it's a loose connection. Arcing happens at these points which will melt just about anything including metal.
>Can I just cut this off and recap it or is there anything else I ehould be worried about.
It probably overheated due to poor connection of the wires.
Cut them back past the heated part, strip the ends, hold the fresh wires next to each other with one pair of pliers and tightly twist the bare wires together with a second pair.
If needed, trim the twisted ends to the proper length before putting a new wire-nut on.
I'd probably do the red-white too, just to be sure it was making a good connection.
This, Some corrosion got into the connection and caused high resistance. That resistance is why it got hot.
>melty cap
wire nut
>twist the bare wires together
not really necessary with only two wires
Ideal wire nut manufacture instructions:
1. Turn off power before removing or installing connectors.
2. Strip connectors to the correct strip length.
3. Straighten and align frayed strands.
4. Hold wires together with ends even. Lead stranded wires slightly ahead of solid wires.
5. Pre-twisting acceptable, but not required. For pre-twisting; strip wires long, hold wires together with insulation even, twist wire ends together, trim to recommended strip length.
6. Insert bundle into connector and twist clockwise until tight
I removed the melted wire and recapped both wires. Now the wires are a little warm and not smoking/melting. Ops check better.
>Now the wires are a little warm
Keep track of it and keep us posted.
Dubs and he died in boiler explosion.
his spirit now haunts the mansion
Looks good.
you should drain+flush the tank and check the elements along with the anode if you don't want your mom to die in a house fire, or be without hot water shortly
Alright its been about a day, I buttoned it up. The wires are cool and I changed this ring terminal that got zapped.
I changed the element before I noticed the blue arc coming put of the top.
Like so.
>The wires are cool
Sounds good OP.
It shouldn't be of more concern than normal.
>Now the wires are a little warm
That is not good. You should have a licensed electrician perform an amperage reading and inspection of that circuit.
>The wires are cool
> the wires be vibin'
>this is why
>this is why
>this is why they hot
>wires are warm
nagger are you serious
A little warm under usage, such as turning a water heater on and having to heat up the whole tank, is normal. The breaker is there to keep the wires from getting hot enough to start a fire, and is probably warmer than the rest of the panel as well. Warm is normal. Hot is a problem.
FALSE. A current-carrying conductor above ambient temperature is an indicator of a failing overcurrent device, an undersized conductor, excessive oxidation, a defective appliance nearing the end of its life-cycle, or a combination of these factors.
Check the amperage of the circuit under load. Why risk a fire-hazard on a guess?
>this retard
Even with the purposeful derating the NEC does, those conductors can happily sit at 60 C all day long.
What was the temperature of the conductor under load? Oh that's right, you don't know.
What was the breaker rating? Oh you don't know that.
What type of insulation is on the conductor? Ok, so you don't know that.
So what is the gauge of the conductor? You don't know that as well.
What is the running load on the circuit? So you don't have that info either.
Stop assuming shit, you absolute fucking retard.
>you don't know
>therefore i'm right
nagger who the fuck cares. there's like 2000 watts flowing through that wire and it's getting slightly warm. what's that, like 5 watts going into heating up the wire? literally who gives a shit.
Are you a blind idiot? That's 10/2 NM-B (a 90 C THHN running at 60 C wrapped in a PVC sheath), and it's feeding a UL listed device meaning that the water heater conductors don't necessarily have to be 10 AWG. They can be sized based on their own insulation temperature rating. That's the whole reason the ampacity table has different columns.
>FALSE
>FALSE. A current-carrying conductor above ambient temperature is an indicator of a failing overcurrent device, an undersized conductor,
CORRECT. A properly sized conductor is like a superconductor in that it has no significant resistance.
t.idiot
Grab your amp clamp and see what the heater is pulling. If you are at or slightly under the name plate rating you are good. If you are above it you have an element failing in such a way that resistance is increasing.
The heating element in the water heater is probably dying.