Atwood W/H pops circuit breaker in 120v elec. mode.

[Gulliver72]

2015 Flying Cloud FBT dual “fuel” W/H. Use 75% on propane, 25% on electric. Everything was fine all summer until the time I flipped on electric mode and 20A breaker popped. Multiple attempts over period of time same result.
Seems to me a bad heating element wouldn’t cause a short, if bad, it just wouldn’t heat. This leads me to a short somewhere in the wiring, maybe due to chafing (haven’t found anything oblivious).
What am I missing in my diagnosis. Could a bad element cause a short?
Replacing the element in my rig is a huge project, and don’t want to do it on a guess.
Thanks for any and all suggestions.

[lsbrodsky]

I had a similar issue in my 2012 25FB and when I finally dug into the problem, Airstream had done a shoddy job of connecting the Romex to the element wiring and it burned, shorted and tripped the breaker. Hard to get to in mine
Larry

[Al and Missy]

If turned on with no water in the heater the element self-destructs. Could be open, could be shorted. With the breaker turned off, measure the resistanc from the wh hot to the neutral buss. If it is less than 6 ohms or so you have a problem in the heater. A relatively simple and inexpensive test is to get a replacement breaker and try it. Breakers do occasionally go bad. Easier than accessing the wiring and heating element. Mine is accessible by removing a panel under the bathroom sink, so not as bad as yours, I guess.

Al

[Gulliver72]

Originally Posted by lsbrodsky

I had a similar issue in my 2012 25FB and when I finally dug into the problem, Airstream had done a shoddy job of connecting the Romex to the element wiring and it burned, shorted and tripped the breaker. Hard to get to in mine

Larry

Larry......Just getting back to you on H2O heater problem. I pulled the whole unit out, and it turns out my problem is the result of another Jackson Center slop job. The 12g wires to the element were folded down, chafed, and welded themselves to the housing. This should never have happened! Unit is back in. Works fine. Zero $$$. Just time and unnecessary aggravation.

[lsbrodsky]

Thanks for closing the issue. It is disappointing to find these kinds of things when our expectations for quality are so much more. Who said "do it right the first time" ?

Larry