Atwood water heater burnt wire

[richinny]

anyone have any comments?

the gas works but the 120v fried this wire. in was in operation for a few weeks before it happened. the trailer is two years old.

the pictures show the back of the heater (no damage)
the inside of the element cover with module (slight melting of the cover)

the melted and burnt wire connection.

i am waiting for a reply comment from atwood.

[TG Twinkie]

Is that a burnt up wire nut? Looks like it was a bad connection from the get go. Cut off the burnt part of the wires. Strip them back, twist them together with pliers, turning the pliers clockwise. Then screw on a new wire nut of the proper size. Turn the wire nut on by hand making sure it is tight. It must tighten completely without spinning on the splice. If it spins go to the next smaller size wire nut. Wrap electrical tape around it whne your done. Clockwise looking at the end of the splice.

[Phoenix]

Personally, I'd recommend using an insulated, crimped butt-splice. It'll make a much more secure mechanical and electrical connection.

[TG Twinkie]

Butt Connectors don't work well on solid wire. There is really no crimping of the conductors when you are dealing with solid wires. Butt connectors do work well on stranded wire.

[richinny]

thanks for the replies.

i think it is stranded wire. (it's a friends trailer) and yes that used to be a crimp wire connector.

when reconnected i'm going to put an ammeter on it to see what the load is. i read that atwood reduced the elements from 1500 watts to 1400 watts on some units.

[richinny]

i see i never updated this post so here goes.....

the wire was reconnected and all worked well. i did contact atwood and sent the pictures as requested but atwood never replied.

i did find on the atwood site that atwood has reduced the wattage of replacement heating elements. there was no mention of why.