Toller wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi everyone,

I opened up the box and checked out the wiring and noticed that the
wires leading from the hot water heater to the circuit breaker are 12
gauge.

I was checking around today at more places for a suitable quad breaker
replacement. The closest match to my 30amp/20 amp original breaker
was a circuit breaker I found at Lowe's, but I'm not entirely sure if
what I found will work.

On the breaker, it's described as a "trip-plex". In the middle of the
breaker, there are two 30 amp switches, bracketed together.

On the outside there are two 20 amp switches, but they aren't bracketed
together. On the original circuit breaker I have, the two 20's are
bracketed together. I'm kind of hesitant to install this breaker till
I find out more info. This is what it says on the breaker I
purchased at Lowe's:

One two pole units
Two one pole units

inside poles have common trip

outside poles have no common trip


So I'm just curious if I picked up the right breaker because I suspect
that I didn't. The original breaker I have is physically identical
to the breaker that needs replacement with the sole exception that the
breaker I found at Lowe's doesn't have the two outside 20 amp switches
bracketed together. I just find that odd and cause for concern as I
would think that the two outside pole 20s would have a common trip for
a water heater, but if anyone has any info that can be of help, I'd
appreciate. More than likely, if this breaker is a mismatch , I will
probably have to special order the correct one.

That is a triple breaker; a 30a 240v and a pair of 20a 120v.
It will work, in the sense that it will protect against overloads. But the
odds are only one will trip, so you will have 120v going to the device if
you touch the wiring. Obviously it will not meet code. Sorry.


Well, if it's true that what I purchased today would actually work,
that would be fine with me. I don't work on the electricity in the
house anyway without shutting the main breakers off completely.

This whole mess with the circuit breaker shorting out was all caused by
my parents (who left me this house) hiring a shoddy electrician to run
electricity out to a shed in the back. Instead of putting that shed on
it's own circuit, they just piled it onto the breaker that now needs to
be replaced. They wanted it done on the cheap and it has no lead to
many headaches. The wiring that lead out to the shed began to short
out because the "electrician" didn't properly safeguard the wires he
buried into the ground from the elements. And this lead to the breaker
shorting out as well.