Electrical Spark/Short?

[TLRMADE]

Whenever we turn on our dryer the top of the hot water heater sparks.... Any suggestions?

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[enfield]

Call an electrician b4 your house burns down.

[quietguy]

It is probably a loose connection, but I would call an electrician if you don't know for sure what you are doing.  

[Sam1]

^^^this

sparks are caused by gaps in connectivity - not sure what the dryer would have to do with your water heater sparking.

definitely wouldn't be drying anymore clothes until it was investigated further

[DWARREN123]

Yep, if you are not qualified to do electrical work then call someone who is. This may be very dangerous to you, your family and your home.

[TLRMADE]

Yea I'm not touching anything. I've flipped the breaker for the dryer and hot water heater. Calling somebody Tomo.


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[Wingshooter]

I've had 2 hot water heaters almost catch on fire in the last 10years. I'd have someone check it. You don't want a fire.

[Jeb48]

They often ground the center neutral of the 220v to the water pipes in older houses besides the ground rod. You may be getting some current in the ground leg of the 220v for some reason. If you don't know electrical call an electrician.

[Oh Shoot]

1 hour ago, Jeb48 said:

They often ground the center neutral of the 220v to the water pipes in older houses besides the ground rod. You may be getting some current in the ground leg of the 220v for some reason. If you don't know electrical call an electrician.

Yep, old farm house I lived in, one night I tossed some forks and knives into the sink and sparks flew. The element in water heater had somehow shorted out so that the drain from the sink was hot, but not the water pipes to it. Weird.

- OS

[Sam1]

I'm still trying to figure out if they daisy chained the dryer on the water heater circuit...

 

[quietguy]

4 minutes ago, Sam1 said:

I'm still trying to figure out if they daisy chained the dryer on the water heater circuit...

 

Sounds like they must have a shared leg(s) somewhere, but too many unknowns to give advise.

[nightrunner]

2 hours ago, quietguy said:

Sounds like they must have a shared leg(s) somewhere, but too many unknowns to give advise.

There is something somewhere alright.

Id have to be there hands on and check several things before I could even guess at what is going on here.

 

A lot will depend on how old it is too as residential grounding has come a long way.

[MacGyver]

Nothing to add except a reminder that electricity will kill you dead - in pretty short order.

If you aren't positive you know what you're doing - call someone who is.

[NextExit]

15 hours ago, TLRMADE said:

I've flipped the breaker for the dryer and hot water heater.

 

13 hours ago, Sam1 said:

I'm still trying to figure out if they daisy chained the dryer on the water heater circuit...

That's what it sounds like... one breaker for the dryer and water heater    You never know... my old house had the central air hooked to the main breaker.  Wasn't about to touch that.  Called an electrician.  Good thing because he found a few other issues in the panel. 

[Ugly]

I would immediately put the drier on front porch to avoid any further instance of burning the place down

You could probably chunk your clothes in there and the heat of the day will dry em too

 

[KahrMan]

7 minutes ago, Ugly said:

You could probably chunk your clothes in there and the heat of the day will dry em too

 

Not with the humidity right now...

[TLRMADE]

Electrician is supposed to come out today. Here is my panel. I'm in a condo complex but own my own unit. Could possibly not be part of my problem but an issue outside of my unit?




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[TLRMADE]

The dryer was searching for a ground and kept running until it found one. He said it's just bc of the older wiring in the building. Newer stuff is not wired like this. We have a 3 prong outlet and 4 prongs are required for anything newer.


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[enfield]

Possibly.  I recall a 3-pin for a dryer and 4-pin for a range. Code changes all the time.

Glad you're safe.  Electricians are cheap for the peace of mind.

Edited August 1, 2016 by enfield

[nightrunner]

1 hour ago, enfield said:

Possibly.  I recall a 3-pin for a dryer and 4-pin for a range. Code changes all the time.

Glad you're safe.  Electricians are cheap for the peace of mind.

NEC calls for 4 prong on both now. And your right, code changes every 2 years I believe.

[nightrunner]

1 hour ago, TLRMADE said:

The dryer was searching for a ground and kept running until it found one. He said it's just bc of the older wiring in the building. Newer stuff is not wired like this. We have a 3 prong outlet and 4 prongs are required for anything newer.


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Did he change anything? It doesn't just do that. One it shouldn't be sparking, that is a loose connection as stated earlier. And two, if it had to jump to another circuit to get a ground, that is a problem. The main panel should have a good and solid ground , if not it needs one (ground rod or otherwise) added to it. It being three prong simply means the ground and neutral is sharing a wire going to the main panel and is split off from there, whereas the 4 prong has a dedicated ground and neutral from the outlet to the panel.

[DWARREN123]

Glad you got it figured out without a fire or someone hurt!

Electricity can do many good things but some bad things when it is not right.

[TLRMADE]

Did he change anything? It doesn't just do that. One it shouldn't be sparking, that is a loose connection as stated earlier. And two, if it had to jump to another circuit to get a ground, that is a problem. The main panel should have a good and solid ground , if not it needs one (ground rod or otherwise) added to it. It being three prong simply means the ground and neutral is sharing a wire going to the main panel and is split off from there, whereas the 4 prong has a dedicated ground and neutral from the outlet to the panel.

He re wired a bunch on stuff on the panel. He tried to explain the neutral wires and ground wires but I didn't completely comprehend what he was talking about. He just said that the reason for the problems were the way the dryer and stove were wired up and they were trying to make a ground through the entire condo and then ending up at the hot water heater. When he was messing with some of the wires on top of the hot water heater some of the lights were flickering. He made our place "safe" for now. He said there was a brand new box on the outside of the building but he couldn't get into it and said that the problem was probably inside the box.


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