If your water heater is 4500 to 5200 watt, which are pretty standard, it
should use a 30 amp circuit breaker as does an electric dryer. This could be
part of your problem. The wire size for both the dryer and the water heater
should be #10 . If the wire size is, than a 30 amp breaker would be
appropriate. If the water heater is less than 4500 watts and is fed by a #12
cable, then you need a 20 amp breaker to properly protect that gauge wire



wrote in message
ps.com...
Hi everyone,

I have a question to ask about replacing a circuit breaker that's
shorting out. I need to replace a Bryant circuit breaker that is a
quad...it's has both a 20 amp switch and 30 amp switch on it. My hot
water heater and dryer is hooked up to this breaker.

I went looking around today at Home Depot for a replacement, but I
can't find a quad breaker that has both 20 amp and 30 amp The
closest I found was a quad that has two 30 amp switches on it. Would
there be a problem if I replaced the old breaker with this one they
have at Home Depot? I talked to a guy who works there, I'm not sure
how knowledgeable he is, but he told me that while the breaker would
work as a replacement to the other one, it might overload the circuits
because it's not a 20 amp+30 amp quad breaker but a 30 amp+30amp. I
looked around at a couple of other stores, but I can't find an
identical match to replace the old breaker. So, I was just wondering
if there would be any real problem replacing it with the breaker I
found at home depot (I'm not sure why there would be a problem...but
that's why I'm asking) , or if I should just have another breaker
special ordered over internet to be on the safe side?

thank you