In hot water

Success!!!

Finally!

Apparently I just had to leave yesterday - that annoying day - behind.

I have hot water!!!

Excuse me a minute....

[[[Happy dance!!!]]]]

Okay, I am back. I just have to do a happy dance whenever I say "I have hot water!"


This morning I checked the circuit breakers using my new multimeter. Only the water heater circuit breaker did not register any current. Darn, a bad circuit breaker. I turned the power off to the entire house then removed the bad circuit breaker.

Another visit to Home Depot and I spoke with yet another electrician. Gary, this time. He was very helpful. My circuit breaker is a Federal Pacific Electric Stab-lok circuit breaker. The company no longer exists, though some replacement breakers for this brand of circuit breakers are still made. Home Depot didn't have my model.

A Google search of this company turned up some interesting info. Apparently many, many older homes across the U.S. have these types of circuit breakers. In 1979 another company bought the bankrupt Federal Pacific Electric company (FPE) in 1979. Around July 1980 the new company stopped shipping the Federal Pacific Electric Stab-lok circuit breakers. Apparently the Federal Pacific Electric company previously obtained UL Listings by fraudulent means and that at "some point thereafter, lost their UL listing." No recall or field repair was ever offered for these circuit breakers. Some people claim these type of FPE circuit breakers have a higher failure rate than other breakers.

There is a lot of good information at the FPE Stab-Lok Website, created by DJ Friedman as a consumer information and failure research project. Another web site downplays the FPE problems.

Oh, the joys of owning an older home!

Back to Home Depot... Gary came up with the idea of using a multimeter to double check my circuit breaker by using another method. We tried it and this method showed that my circuit breaker worked. Huh? Also, I noticed that after removing my breaker from the service panel there was no longer any "play" when the breaker was set on. It was good that my breaker works as I noticed similar circuit breakers cost $60. But "bad" in that I don't know why my new water heater doesn't work.

Gary told me how to use my multimeter to test the wiring from the circuit breaker panel to the hot water heater.

You know, I initially was disappointed by Home Depot when they first opened in Kalispell. I tended to avoid shopping there. But they have sure changed things since them. The employees are very knowledgeable and helpful; particularly in the electrical and plumbing departments. Home Depot is now on my list of places to shop.

Back at home I found my wiring tested fine. Hmm... that may mean that my circuit breaker fails "under load". I decided to re-install my breaker again to see if it again failed with the power turned on. No. It didn't. I could quietly hear the hot water heat hum. It wasn't my imagination yesterday when I thought I had heard it hum before turning the circuit breaker off to fix the water leak.

I don't know why the water heater didn't work yesterday. I don't know if the circuit breaker is "touchy" about being set, or if it was just that yesterday nothing went smoothly, so why should powering my water heater.

Later I had hot water. [[[Happy dance!!!]]]]

I am so happy I have hot water again. What a change it made in my day. The sun seemed to shine a little brighter and I had a spring in my step (even if I hadn't taken a shower yet!)

To celebrate I went and split some firewood. Huh? I know, it doesn't make sense; but I felt like doing that. I guess I wanted to do something physical after days of fooling with the water heater replacement.

[[[Happy dance!!!]]]]

Final photos of my old and new hot water heaters. Doesn't the new one look cute?