How To Tell Which Breaker Is For Hot Water Heater
When wiring a water heater, you have to nail the breaker size . If you don't fairly determine what size breaker yous need for your water heater, the whole circuit can go up in flames. That's why we volition explain exactly how to size a water heater breaker. You can also consult the water heater billow size nautical chart further on for ten-100 gallon water heaters.
Namely, for sizing a water heater, we will demand to account for ii factors:
- Water heater amp describe. Water heaters can use equally little every bit 8.iii amps to in a higher place 40 amps to run. Most water heaters volition draw eighteen.8 amps (this is for 4500 watt 240V heaters in xxx-gallon, 40-gallon, l-gallon, 60-gallon, lxx-gallon, and eighty-gallon h2o heaters). You lot can cheque out how many amps do water heaters draw here.
- NEC fourscore% rule. According to the National Electric Code (NEC), you tin load the billow up to only eighty% of its maximum amperage. Example: You tin can only put a 16 amp water heater on a 20A breaker because 16A is 80% of the maximum 20A breaker capacity.
In the Us, we mostly use 15A, 20A, and 30A breakers. Most water heaters (4500 watt heaters) will use xviii.8 amps to run at 100% output. This doesn't mean that you can utilize a 20A billow for virtually water heaters. That's considering we as well need to apply the eighty% NEC rule like this:
Billow Size (18.viii Amp Heater) = eighteen.8 Amps / 0.8 = 23.v Amp Breaker Or Bigger
Equally you tin can see, for most water heaters we volition need an amp breaker with at least 23.5 amps. 23.5A breaker would be perfect but we don't have breakers in that size. Instead, nosotros most commonly utilize a xxx amp breaker for 4500 watt water heaters.
Apparently, the size of the amp billow also depends on the hot water heater gallon capacity (and corresponding water heater wattage and voltage).
Here is the full nautical chart of how big amp billow you demand for different water heater sizes:
H2o Heater Billow Size Chart
| Water Heater Size: | Breaker Size: |
| 10 Gallon Water Heater | 20 Amp Or 30 Amp |
| 20 Gallon Water Heater | xx Amp Or xxx Amp |
| 30 Gallon Water Heater | 30 Amp Breaker |
| 40 Gallon Water Heater | 30 Amp Breaker |
| 50 Gallon Water Heater | xxx Amp Breaker |
| sixty Gallon Water Heater | 30 Amp Breaker |
| 70 Gallon Water Heater | 30 Amp Breaker |
| 80 Gallon Water Heater | xxx Amp Breaker |
| ninety Gallon H2o Heater | 30 Amp Billow Or Bigger |
| 100 Gallon Water Heater | 30 Amp Billow Or Bigger |
As you can meet, most water heaters will require a 30A breaker. For example, a 40-gallon hot water heater requires a 30A breaker considering it uses a 4500 watt 240V heater. The same is true for 30-gallon, 50-gallon, 60-gallon, 70-gallon, and 80-gallon water heaters.
The smallest 10-gallon and 20-gallon hot water heaters require 20A or 30A breaker, depending on the heater size. The about common pocket-sized water heater wattage is 1600 watts which runs on a 120V excursion. This means information technology draws 13.3 amps.
Yous can't use the small 15A breaker here because we still have to apply the NEC 80% rule. Accounting for this, nosotros demand a breaker with at to the lowest degree 16.half-dozen amp capacity. The 20A breaker volition be perfect for well-nigh of these smaller water boilers.
Bigger lxxx+ gallon h2o heaters can require bigger breakers. These heaters can have a wattage far to a higher place the standard 4500 watts; up to even 10,000 watts. At 10,000 watts, for example, y'all will demand a breaker that can handle at least 52.i amps. In this case, ii 30A breakers are the get-to choice; they have a combined capacity of 60 amps.
All in all, well-nigh standard 4500 watt h2o heaters will require a 30A breaker. For smaller hot h2o heaters, a 20A breaker might but exist enough. For bigger heaters (100-gallon, for example), the get-to breaker size is double 30A.
Source: https://learnmetrics.com/what-size-breaker-for-hot-water-heater/
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