I've installed a new 55 gal hot water heater. My old water heater had only two wires black and white. The new water heater came with three wires a yellow, blue and black. I've attached the blue and black to the incoming black wire and the yellow is attached to the white incoming wire.

I have waited almost an hour and there is still no hot water coming in. I'm not sure what else I should do. I figured the blue and black wire were hot wires and should be attached to the incoming hot wire, but it seems like I'm at a dead end right now.

I have a Kenmore 55 gal electric water heater. Any help would be great!

So you had an old electric hot water heater that had only two wires, very interesting. Can you confirm 240 v out of these wires? What size breaker controls this circuit?

It gets 240 v and the circuit breaker is a 30.

Where is your ground?

Attatched to the green ground screw, my white wire is attatched to to the yellow wire from the water heater, my black wire is connected to the blue and black from the water heater.

Your old water heate had two wires coming out and most likely a green screw inside to hook a ground to. The new water heater has three wires coming out, which means two of them are hot and one is a ground. I would look in the book that came with the water heater and follow wiring instructions.

Are you saying that you tied the blue and black from the water heater together with the one black from your breaker? And then tied the yellow from the water heater to the white coming from breaker? Are there only two wires coming from breaker box to the water heater. If so, then you need to tie the black from water heater to black from breaker, and blue from water heater to white from breaker. Cap off the yellow from water heater, its just a ground. I give you this advice just to let you know it will work, however, if you don't have three wires coming from breaker box, you should really run a new set of wires from the breaker box to your water heater, make it properly grounded and sleep better at night. Good luck and please let us know how it turns out.

I guess that was what I have been asking you, you said there were only two wires but now the 3rd wire has come up in the description. You can not have 240 with two wires, you need a ground. Lets get back to what you did with the 3 wires. From what I see you have connected all three to the two hots, you do not have a ground from the panel reaching the heater. Are you following me so far.

I do have a bare ground wire coming from the breaker. What you are asking so far is correct.

What I am hearing is the black goes to the black and the blue goes to the white. Should the yellow be capped off or connected to the ground wire coming from the breaker?

Little steps here, the heater has blue/black and yellow. Your cable coming to the heater has black, white and bare, right?

You can have 240 without a ground(not legally but there will still be 240 if you hook up two 120s.)

Yes, Ballengerb1 that's correct.


The top thermostat is working, but the bottom thermostat is not turning on.

Breaker off-black to black, blue to white, yellow to bare. What's this "The top thermostat is working, but the bottom thermostat is not turning on." you have only on stat, did your mean the elements weren't both working or what.

This unit has 2 resets, one on top and one on bottom, I was under the impression that the top one starts working first until it reaches the set temp, then the bottom one kicks in. I switched the wiring so that it is Wihite to Yellow and Black, and Black to Blue. I get a reading of 240 at the top element, I get 0 on the bottom element but it is getting power (120 on either screw).

I tried yellow to bare, and the element does not get enough juice.

I got to wait for one of the electricians to jump in, this isn't making sense for me.

Sorry

It isn't making sense to me either. I followed the directions in the book. I can't understand why the thermostat below hasn't turn on. I've talked with the people at Kenmore and they're stating that the thermostat below should come on when the top thermostat reaches 120 degrees. If warm water is coming out I would think it should have reached 120 degrees by now.

Thanks for trying help!

Has anyone thought of looking at the wiring diagram for this heater?

The three wire system is for off peak or time clock control of one element/stat.

Please provide the model number for this new Kenmore water heater, so I can go look for the manufacturers wiring diagram.

In the mean time, I went to Sears and found a installation manual for what I believe to be typical Kenmore 55 gallon water heater, with the three wire system.

I included the link to this manual. According to the wiring diagram, on page 16, the yellow and blue connect to one conductor of the 240 volt feeder, and the black connects to the other.

http://download.sears.com/own/32134e.pdf

I have the Kenmore manual along with the diagram on top water heater. I have connected the wires to the water according to the two wire connection in the diagram. The water heater is still not reaching the temperature to turn on the bottom thermostat.

Oops, I saw the main diagram, but did not see the smaller inset to the right diagram #3, which shows different than the main diagram, black and blue to one leg of the 240 volt feed, and yellow to the other, which is the first connection you made.

Troubleshooting from here should be easy, but need to go step by step.

Check to be absolutely sure you have 240 volts across the black/blue and yellow input.

If OK, leave one test probe on black/blue for the rest of the testing. If there is 240 volts feeding the heater, there must be a defective device or a loose connection. Anywhere you lose 240 volts is the problem.

If good 240 volts, then look for 240 volts and measure across black/blue and either #2 of the high limit or#1 on the upper stat, this will check the high limit.

If OK, nowhere is where it gets tricky. The upper stat will always be closed first from cold, heating the top of the tank. Once the upper stat is satisfied, then it switches from #2 to #4 on the upper stat. You can fake out the stat by lowering upper stat, then it should switch to #4, and send power down to the lower stat. Look for 240 volts across black/blue to #4. this will check the upper stat switching.

Follow the red from #4 down to the element and look for 240 volts, This will check the red wire and connection.

If OK, remove the black wire from he element and test the terminal on the heater. This will check the element. If OK, put the wire back.

If all this was OK, move the stationary test probe from black/blue to the yellow

If OK, look for 240 across yellow and #2 of the lower stat, this will check wire and connection.

If OK, raise the lower stat to high temp, and look for 240 volts across yellow and #1 of the lower stat, this will check the stat.

If OK, then look for 240 volts across #2 on the high limit, checks the wire and connection.

If Ok then look for 240 volts across #1 on the high limit, checks the high limit.

Now your back to across the black/blue and yellow. One of these steps you lose the 240 volts, and the last connection or device is the problem.

You can do the same process to check the upper devices.

A good probability is a broken element, as these are the most fragile device, could have broken during shipping, etc.

Also, check that both elements are set to the same and correct wattage setting, see the diagram off on the left bottom of page 16. I am not sure if both should be 3800 or 5500 watts, most likely both should be 5500 watts.

This is a longshot, but check that both the upper and lower systems are wired exactly according to the diagram, could be a miswire from the factory.

These steps should help you find the problem. I hope so, if not get back with the results.

Have you found the problem?