water heater electrical problem

Hi, I just intalled a new water heater, and can't get the electrical part to work. I have all the pipes connected, and the tank filled. The new water heater is the same as the old, which was leaking but worked fine - 4500x2 elements, 240 volts, 40 gallons.

The only difference is that there are 2 thermostats instead of one, but I can't imagine that makes a difference since the rest of the electrical is the same. I connected black to black, red to white (the heater second wire is red, mine is white).

Now when I try to turn on the electricity, it trips the circuit breaker for the water heater and the rest of the house. The circuit is 30 amp double breaker, and the house, which is old, is wired with 110 not 220, but the old water heater worked fine except for a leaking tank.

Since everything is the same, I cannot figure out why the eletrical part won't work. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Kris

 

I don't think I understand what purpose a double-pole breaker does in a house without 220. Wouldn't a single-pole breaker do the same thing?

And didn't that old water heater take forever to get the water hot enough for another shower after you took one?

Anyway, I don't see anything that would obviously cause a short circuit. Does it trip immediately (short circuit) or slowly (overload)? I suggest you double-check your work for an accidental short.

 

Hi, I have no idea about single vs double pole, that's the way it was set up when we moved in.

It did take a long time to heat up, is that because of the heater size, or the electrical wiring of the house?

It trips immediately when I turn on the breaker. When trying to fix the leak in the old one, I turned if off and on with no problem. The wiring looks so simple, all I did was connect the two sets of wires, but I will check again.

Thanks a lot for the help.

Kris