|
Q. About 16 months ago I replaced my 14 year old electric water heater with a new electric water heater. I had a reputable contractor perform the work. My water heater is located in the utility room in my basement about 30 feet from my fuse box. I also have a BGE monitoring/setback device for the water heater that was installed by the previous owners.
The water heater has been operating properly since it was installed until one day this past week. I got up one morning to take a shower and had no hot water. I went downstairs and smelled something burning and saw that the breaker for the water heater had tripped. There was also some smoke coming from the metal junction box where connections were made between the water heater, BGE device and power from the house. I opened the junction box and saw that the wire connector that was connecting the black wire had melted and insulation on those wires and others had also melted.
The information that was eventually relayed to me as we determined the cause and solution is of interest to anyone replacing or has replaced their water heater.
The source of my problem was the use of incorrect wire connectors, the plastic screw on type-- sometimes called wire nuts-- that were used to make connections between the power from the house, our BGE monitoring/setback device and the wires that supply power to the water heater.
After speaking with BGE and an electrician, it was determined that the wire connections should have been made using crimp connectors. Furthermore, I found out after talking to BGE that usually electricians and the BGE contractor that install and reconnect the monitoring devices, not plumbers, are the only ones that have the proper crimp connectors. The BGE technician said that he gets at least one call like mine a week and they advise the homeowner to tell their contractor to leave the BGE device disconnected when they install the new water heater. The problem is that neither the homeowner or contractor seem to be aware of this problem in the first place so they don't know that they should be aware of it.
So, the bottom line is that if a homeowner has a BGE device and they replaced or will replace their water heater they should instruct the plumber not to reconnect the BGE device. Instead the plumber can just connect the water heater as if there was no BGE device. Then the homeowner can call BGE and have their technician come out and reconnect the BGE device using the crimp connectors. There is no charge for BGE to come out and reconnect the device.
Apparently, some plumbers reconnect the devices using what they have in the way of plastic screw on type connectors or reuse what is already there, and over time the connections fail causing a short and potentially a fire. In my case, the breaker tripped, but not before the wire connector melted and insulation around the wires melted about two inches down from the connection. In fact, my plumber had to replace the wire that led to the thermostat on the water heater because there was not enough good wire left to cut, re-strip, and reconnect.
You may want to publish this information in your weekly article so any homeowner has the information and can check to see if their water heater is properly connected to the power source in their home, and avoid a potential fire.
A. I certainly will pass your experience along. To be sure of the facts I contacted Rex Cauldwell, a master electrician and a master plumber who lives in Virginia and is the author the book Wiring A House by Taunton Press and checked with him. He replied with “typically it takes a trained technician to install and maintain these control units—not a typical plumber or electrician. Or even a homeowner. The utility company has a list of such technicians but you can use anyone. That’s probably what happened . Someone other than a trained technician did the wiring.”
Additionally, it is unlikely anyone other than a trained technician or licensed electrician can open and look at an installation and know what to look for. What one can do however is to look at the date of installation that is usually noted by the instal ler as to when the turn back device was installed and check that against the date of manufacture of the water heater-- located in the first four digits of the serial number on the water heater label giving the week and then the year-- and if the date of the water heater is more recent than the date on the BGE device then the wiring might be suspect. I routinely see them on the ground next to new HVAC exterior condenser/compressor units because the installers don’t know what to do with them and the homeo wners aren’t told either.