Because it is Drawing 23 amps and WILL trip a 20A breaker eventually.
The old one may not have been 5500 watts. It may have been 4500 watts.
No matter, even a 4500 watt unit must be on a (25A or) 30A circuit with at least #10cu wire. Yours MUST be on a 30A.
--- In DoIt_Yourself@yahoogroups.com, "waspangle" <waspangle@...> wrote:
>
> Hello learned DIYers,
>
> I've got a 6 month-old 80 gal. elec water heater that tripped the double-pole 20 amp breaker. It may have happened twice over a 24 or 48 hour period, the facts are a little unclear here.
>
> This unit is rated at 5500/4130 watts, which means it should probably be on a 30 amp circuit. The similar 80 gal heater that this one replaced operated trouble free on this circuit for 7 years. It appears that the wire from the "little gray box" timer to the heater is 10 guage...if it is 12g, replacing with 10 will be no problem. Hopefully a 10g runs from breaker to timer.
>
> So, any theories on why it would start tripping this (undersized) breaker now?
>
> Many thanks for your input,
>
> -Wayne
>
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