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Kenmore water heater 5 years old will not stay on, keeps tripping main house circuit breaker. Power Miser 6, electric 40 gal. Has been working fine till today. Checked all the wiring on WH itself everything looks like brand new, no melted wires, little red button is pushed in etc. Not a pro at using a multi meter but with power off I checked the upper and lower elements, which I don't think are shorted out. Guess I just need some guiding forward as I am thinking on just buying two new elements and replacing the ones I got and see if that fixes it. Thanks.
Optional Information: Make: Kenmore Model: XXX.XXXXXX Already Tried: Mostly just took covers of tank, checked connections, put a meter on Ohms and checked upper and lower elements, everything looks like brand new. Circuit breaker goes off but isn't hot or warm just goes off. The heater tries to heat for about 2-5 minutes then the breaker goes off.
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Yes, one of the elents are shorted. You should get continuity with your meter from one fo the element screws to the frame. If you do, that is the bad element. Power must be off do to this, and one wire must removed from each element as well to isolate the element itself. You are definitly on the right track. Power miser 6 means that the parts are in warrenty for 6 years, but no labor. It would cost about $150 for a tech to replace the element for, with the part still under warrenty. Thank you for your question. Please hit the green ACCEPT button if you find this information helpful.
Does it matter if i took off "both" wires on the element and checked them or does it have to have one hooked to it to test out properly
I did ask Sears and they said it was out of warranty for anything??/ I think they are wrong...
They go by the date of purchase, so you would need a reciept to prove that they are. Otherwise, they are not going to be able to honor the warrenty without proof, if their records show different.
Thank you I will replace both elements and hopefully have hot water.
Home Appliance Tech
15yrs experience