Hello All,
I am hoping you might be able to shed some light on my issue. About 2-3 months ago I woke up to discover the breaker for the water heater had flipped sometime in the night. I found it, flipped it back and no worries till last week. It happened again, only this time when I flipped it back it flips back off in less than a minute or so.
I took this information to my handyman and while he informed me it would be at least a couple of weeks before he could fix it, he said he thought it sounded like the element needed replacing. After talking to friends and the guys at the hardware store (and many videos on youtube) I am in the process of trying to fix this myself. (I know, insert eye roll here. If I need to I will call in a professional but my money tree orchard isn't ready for harvest yet so I would like to try it myself first!) I managed to get the elements out tonight but neither look like they are blown. No holes or splits in them which is what I was told I would find but they did look rusted. No I don't have an Ohm meter to test them or the thermostat thingys (yes that's my technical term) which I also looked at but didn't take out. I was told that I would see burn marks on them if they had went out.
So now my questions are 1) even though the elements don't look blown because they are rusted looking does that mean they are bad? 2) do I need to bite the bullet and buy and ohm meter even though I will probably never use it again just to get this job done? 3) Will I need to take out the thermostat thingys to make sure they aren't the issue? 4a&b) Am I missing something else this can be? What would make the breaker flip if not these two items?
Thank you!
Lizzie (longing for a hot shower in the worst way!)

An electrical issue will trip the breaker:

1- bad breaker (unlikely)
2- overload (excessive current draw)
3- short circuit (possible intermittent or light arcing)

What CAUSES the above issue(s) is the issue at hand:

1- faulty wiring (possible, but unlikely)
2- bad heater element (leaking to ground/water)
3- a short at the thermostat

You will need BOTH an AMMETER and an OHMMETER:

+ the knowledge on how to use them SAFELY, to ensure both your immediate safety and your future safety (wiring must be left in a code compliant and safe condition)

You may try:

1- take ampere reading at supply wiring with heater 'drawing' current - should be about 60% of breaker rating

2- take ohm reading of elements - should be about 8-15

then

CALL A LICENSED BONDED INSURED PLUMBER

==============================================

"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

Congratulations, not only have you taken what could be a simple job and turned it into a project, but you managed to do it completely backwards. FIRST, you test things, and then you replace the bad parts. Your initial symptoms imply that the bottom element went bad two months ago and now the top one has also. WHY would you take the elements out and then reinstall them just because they LOOK okay? Thermostat "thingys" are SELDOM the problem, (I may have replaced a dozen or so in the past 60 years).

Did you notice any moisture at all in the element/thermostat compartment when you had the panels off?

I can buy a pair of elements at the blue box and just replace them both for less than the cost of a decent VOM multi-meter. You can't tell by looking at elements if they are bad; like HJ posted, they are more likely to fail than a thermostat.

It's like a an end table lamp. When it quits working, 9 times out of ten, the bulb is burnt out. 1 out of ten, it's a bad on/off switch.

M & M: for what's it's worth, I came across this 26 year old water heater leaking badly inside. The insulation was soggy and burnt from arcing to ground. It never tripped the breaker, the wire to the element corroded and broke instead. Yikes!

Well, I already have a snap around multimeter, and the elements he can buy at a big box store, might not be worth the effort to install them.