Well breaker trips when using hot water in washing machine

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Laurajt1

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About 5 weeks ago I turned on the water and nothing. It was a weekend and I called a plumber and he came and looked at the breaker...it was tripped...he flipped it and I asked why it was tripped and he said I should get an electrician to look at it. I called the electrician and he said he could not find a problem. I called another plumber who said I needed a new well pump. Got the pump. A few days later it tripped again. Called the electrician and put in a larger breaker. Tripped again. No one seems to know what the problem is. The only things that have changed right before this happened is that we got a new hot water heater and a new washing machine tub hooked up. It also seems to only happen when we run hot water to the washing machine. We can run the dishwasher, have hot showers and all and there is no problem. But when we run hot water to the washing machine it trips. Our house is also under contract and we close in 3 weeks and I need to get this fixed or the sale may fall thru. I went on a househunting trip for 10 days and told my kids while I was gone to not use hot water when washing the clothes. The breaker never tripped during those 10 days. When I got back my husband washed a load using warm water and a few hours later the breaker tripped. I will replace everything if I need to I just am so frustrated that no one seems to know what is going on. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
 

Laurajt1

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Get a heavy duty extension cord and plug the washer in somewhere else and see what happens.
I will try this, although the strange thing is it only trips when using the hot water...if we wash on cold it is fine...could it have something to do with the hot water heater..which was installed just before this all started happening?
 

Gary Swart

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I suspect your well and water heater are on the same circuit and the breaker is too small to run both. Now, the answer may not be to just put a heavier breaker in. The wiring may be too small to handle the load. You may need to run a new circuit.
 

FullySprinklered

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I suspect your well and water heater are on the same circuit and the breaker is too small to run both. Now, the answer may not be to just put a heavier breaker in. The wiring may be too small to handle the load. You may need to run a new circuit.
That makes more sense. You would think that it would have been happening with the old washer and water heater. Also, the electrician should have noticed that something wasn't right. The w/h and the well pump should be on separate breakers. The breaker could be double-tapped, or two pulls could have been drawn from a junction box somewhere along the way.
 

DonL

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That makes more sense. You would think that it would have been happening with the old washer and water heater. Also, the electrician should have noticed that something wasn't right. The w/h and the well pump should be on separate breakers. The breaker could be double-tapped, or two pulls could have been drawn from a junction box somewhere along the way.


Putting in a Larger breaker is not the answer. Your electrician had his head up his ass for doing that.

Is the breaker a main in a sub panel ?

The well pump and water heater should not be on the same breaker.

Are they both on 240V ?

It sounds like 1 leg may be out of balance, And the breaker don't like the load.


Good Luck
 

Jadnashua

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Some washing machines have the ability to heat the water so that you can get a REALLY hot wash. Depending on how yours is designed, it may be sensing that your incoming hot water isn't as hot as it wants, then heating it up hotter. This can push that load over the limit on a breaker, if it is shared. Major devices like the well pump, water heater, washing machine, and electric dryer, should all be on individual circuits with their own breaker.

The size of the wire used will determine the biggest breaker that you can use in any individual circuit. Exceeding that is illegal, and any licensed electrician could lose his license if caught doing that. It is neither safe, nor prudent.
 

Craigpump

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Electricians are morons.

I can't tell you how many times I've seen only one leg of a 230 volt pump circuit interrupted.

I saw one electrician bypass the pressure switch and wire directly to the control box.

The other day we went on a call where the electrician didn't read the control box (230 volt) and wired the pump for 115 volts.

All that time getting a license and a well guy has to tell them how to wire a pump circuit.........
 

DonL

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Electricians are morons.

I can't tell you how many times I've seen only one leg of a 230 volt pump circuit interrupted.

I saw one electrician bypass the pressure switch and wire directly to the control box.

The other day we went on a call where the electrician didn't read the control box (230 volt) and wired the pump for 115 volts.

All that time getting a license and a well guy has to tell them how to wire a pump circuit.........


lol.

I would have said "Some Electricians are morons". Some are very good.

Anyone that just puts in a bigger breaker is a Want to be Electrician, Not a real one.

I will not even get into what some Inspectors and ALL Tax assessor collectors are.
 
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Laurajt1

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Some washing machines have the ability to heat the water so that you can get a REALLY hot wash. Depending on how yours is designed, it may be sensing that your incoming hot water isn't as hot as it wants, then heating it up hotter. This can push that load over the limit on a breaker, if it is shared. Major devices like the well pump, water heater, washing machine, and electric dryer, should all be on individual circuits with their own breaker.

The size of the wire used will determine the biggest breaker that you can use in any individual circuit. Exceeding that is illegal, and any licensed electrician could lose his license if caught doing that. It is neither safe, nor prudent.
 

Laurajt1

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Thanks so much for the input. Today I manually tripped the well breaker and then I turned the washer on...the washer did get power so that means that they are on separate breakers, right? My electrician is now going to change out the wire from the panel to the pressure switch to a one guage heavier 10 gauge wire...and my plumber is going to dig up the front yard and put in a new wire from to the well from the tank( I dont know the lingo but I believe that is what he is going to do...) We are moving in 10 days and I really hope this is going to fix the problem...we are going to disclose these issues to the new buyers.

My electician insists that they are all on separate breakers, and it seems they are...It is just so weird that it only trips when we run the warm or hot water cycle on the washing machine...cold is fine. We have not done any wash for 2 days and we have had no problems.
 

Laurajt1

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Thanks so much for the input. Today I manually tripped the well breaker and then I turned the washer on...the washer did get power so that means that they are on separate breakers, right? My electrician is now going to change out the wire from the panel to the pressure switch to a one guage heavier 10 gauge wire...and my plumber is going to dig up the front yard and put in a new wire from to the well from the tank( I dont know the lingo but I believe that is what he is going to do...) We are moving in 10 days and I really hope this is going to fix the problem...we are going to disclose these issues to the new buyers.

My electician insists that they are all on separate breakers, and it seems they are...It is just so weird that it only trips when we run the warm or hot water cycle on the washing machine...cold is fine. We have not done any wash for 2 days and we have had no problems.
I asked my electrician exactly what he had done and this is what he has done so far..he first checked all the places he could access for power and good connections. (he did not check the pressure switch to the well case) All power and connections were good. One thing I did not mention is that we had a generator pane and the well was hooked up to that and my electrician changed it back to the main panel adn changed the 20 amp to a 30 amp.


My plumber/well guy put in a new well pump and also replaced a little boxy thing that is in front of the well tank (Pressure switch maybe? ). He said that when he replaced the well pump that the wire also looked bad and he was sure that was causing the problem...but that was weeks ago and the problem persists.
 

Craigpump

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Hard to trouble shoot without being there but it sounds like you have two guys that really don't know how to properly trouble shoot the problem
 

Laurajt1

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Hard to trouble shoot without being there but it sounds like you have two guys that really don't know how to properly trouble shoot the problem
Yes, I am giving them this last chance and then I will bring in new people..I am in Howard County MD if any one has someone they could recommend!
 

Reach4

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If you are going to do some troubleshooting, I would describe the breaker that blows. Does it occupy two positions on the panel with a handle between it ? Does it say 15 or what?

Then with the breaker tripped, identify what works or does not work. Well pump, water heater, washing machine, other?
 

Laurajt1

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If you are going to do some troubleshooting, I would describe the breaker that blows. Does it occupy two positions on the panel with a handle between it ? Does it say 15 or what?

Then with the breaker tripped, identify what works or does not work. Well pump, water heater, washing machine, other?
 
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