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 water heater
Author: tjj (MO)

if I have a 4500w heating element at 240V will a dedicated 20 amp circuit handle it?

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 Re: water heater
Author: packy (MA)

i found this..
A water heater of this type is required to be considered a continuous load meaning that the branch circuit needs to be calculated at 125% of the heater's rated ampacity. 4500/240 = 18.75 amps, will work on a 20 amp OCPD but, 18.75*125% = 23.4 amps, requires a 25 or 30 amp circuit.

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 Re: water heater
Author: hj (AZ)

With the proper sized wires.

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 Re: water heater
Author: stuckinlodi (MO)

If you need to keep the ckt breaker at 20 amp due to wire size already run thru the wall you can always replace the water heater elements with lower wattage ones such as 3500wt or even 3000wt, they will draw less amps. They come in several wattages, will take a little longer for water heater to fully heat the tank of water but it will still heat the water to whatever temp the water heater thermostat is set to.



Edited 3 times.

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 Re: water heater
Author: JamalWalker (WA)

Yes maybe.

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