My current hot water tank with two 4500W elements have never tripped in 30 years.

My wiring is a flat black wire that reads 14/2 White Ground wired into a single 20 amp breaker.

I had an electrician install a new panel and now that same black wire is hooked to a 20 amp double pole breaker and working just fine.

The current very slow leaking 80 gal. tank must be replaced.

Must I replace with another dbl 4500w element electric tank?

Can I safely use a dbl 5500w element tank?

If I do purchase a 5500w must I upgrade the wiring?

If I must upgrade what size wire and breaker?

What kind of use are you using your current tank for? residential, commercial business?

If I do purchase a 5500w must I upgrade the wiring?
YES!

If I must upgrade what size wire and breaker?

A 240 volt heater rated 5500 watts requires a double pole 240 breaker rated 30 amps, with 10/2 cable with ground. Copper. NOT Aluminum.

If your old heater was rated 240 volts on the nameplate, it was hooked up wrong to start with. Of course it never threw the breaker... but probably took half a day to heat back up. A recipe for a high electric bill.

My home, not commercial

Thanks, you gave a lot of great information.

The current (old) tank is 80 gal, solar tank with panel on roof. Panel was damaged by my "Roofers from Hell" and un-repairable. Now the tank is leaking. Interesting comments you made about the electric bill. Probably was not as high as you thought because I did not mention the solar panel. It has a timer that is programmed to come on when the sun is down. Perhaps going to purely electric and the type (copper) and size wiring and breaker I will not see as much of a raise in my electric bill as I expected.

Thanks again on your very informative and quick response.



Edited 1 times.

Ahhh, now you tell us about the solar panels. Still, even a 240 volt dual-element heater with 4500 watt elements on a 20 amp breaker requires 12/2 cable, not 14/2. The breaker may not trip but the wire could get too hot. Likewise a 5500 watt heater needs 10/2 on 30 amp service. You need to factor in that although the solar panels will help supplement your hot water system, there will be some days esp. in the winter and overcast days that the solar is of no use, and all the hot water must come from properly sized cable/breakers from your panel.

I wanted to mention as well that you may be better served with two smaller tanks as opposed to one larger tank, or perhaps look into a hybrid tank. It really depends on your needs more than anything.

what difference does THAT make as to the wiring for the heater? If you have a 20 amp breaker with 14/2 wires you may have a 3600 watt element. Unless you find someone with "old stock" you will ONLY be able to purchase a hybid heat pump heater if you stay with 80 gallons. Regardless of what you install, it should have at least a 30 amp breaker with 10.2 wires, even if it is "only 4500 watt" elements.

OP;

Your present electric hook up does NOT meet the minimum code specification for human occupancy.

It is a fire hazard. Even if the breaker has never 'tripped'.

Bluntly stated, but true none-the-less.

4500 watt elements REQUIRE 30 Amp dual pole breaker and 10 Gage wire size.

(edited)

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



Edited 1 times.

quote; 4500 watt elements REQUIRE 30 Amp dual pole breaker and 12 Gage MINIMUM wire size

1. WE do NOT know if he has 4500 watt elements
2. #12 wire is a MAXIMUM of 20 amp breaker.
3. 30 amp breaker REQUIRES #10 wire.

as per OP:

Quote

My current hot water tank with two 4500W elements have never tripped in 30 years.

as per my error regarding wire gage:

oops - typo - corrected

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

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



Edited 1 times.

At one point he states that it is an 80 gallon solar tank, and solar tanks NEVER have two elements. The bottom is where the controller's thermistor is connected.

I currently have an 80 gallon Solar, I see only 1 element (read that all have 2 so I said 2). Perhaps all standard electric tanks have two elements, I have no real idea on that issue.

Did not mention Solar as I did not want to bore anyone with too much information. Certainly wish I had.

With that in mind I also will add that I am not going to continue using the solar panel on the roof. It works but is badly damaged from roofers. It will be capped off and left in place until such time as the roof needs replaced.

My solar guy is not the one who installed my tank 30 years ago; but he has serviced it for about 10 years and advised me to move to a regular electric tank because my panel is broken and un-fixable. Solar guy also said my current tank is blocking two cabinets and the newer solar tanks are even larger in size and would block even more cabinets and therefore directed me toward a regular electric tank. He also advised me my electric panel is not wired to support the requirements of that old tank and it should not have been installed in the first place. Said I should have the Breaker Panel replaced.

I had three electric companies come and give me estimates about bringing the panel up to code for a tank-less system and was told by the first company I need a new breaker panel and 10/3 wiring. The second company said I also needed three phase wiring to my main and I would have to have FPL install that. Another company said I needed all that plus a change of my main breaker panel to bring it up to standards with a "Breaker" instead of my old Double Fuse system. Those costs were all in the $4000 range not including the costs of FPL installing 3-phase wiring.

All informed me that the Tank-less systems were probably not gonna make me happy. Online searching seems to be mixed with most being negative. Some did say the only ones to consider would be the propane type not the electric type but it would be costly to have the tanks installed underground.

Decided to go with a standard electric tank. Did not want to bore you with all those details, but there they are.

Want to purchase a 50 gal Electric tank. The size I am looking at is a 5500-watt two element tank. It will not block any cabinets.

From what I see on these posts, it seems I need to move up to 10/2 copper (not aluminum) ground and a double 30 Amp breaker. My new panel can accommodate that.

As for the old Fuse type of Main Electric box being upgraded to a Breaker type, I would appreciate any advice you might have.

Personally, I prefer breakers over fuses, because you will always blow a fuse at night on a weekend and be up the creek. (with my luck) With breakers I keep cheap flashlights around the house just in case something like that were to happen, but even then it is just a flip of the switch.