Timer for Water Heater (Pictures)

Molo · Mar 31, 2008

This Grey Box, is an Intermatic timer for my water heater. I have off-peak metering, but this timer is not wired properly.

Can someone please tell me the proper wiring for this unit? I've called Intermatic but they were not very helpful as I was on hold for a very long time waiting for a tech. There is 10-3 coming into the box.

Thanks,
Molo

Speedy Petey · Mar 31, 2008

You're gonna have to remove that plastic shield if you want us to help you.

Sponsor · 2022-01-29T12:20:58-0800

Master Plumber Mark · Mar 31, 2008

what exactly is wrong with it???

why do you think something is wrong with it anyway??

i have seen these a lot and the only tihng that goes wrong
with them is usually just the time of day gets screwed up
on them....

perhaps you just have a bad element ....

not a bad timer

Chris75 · Mar 31, 2008

Terminals 1 & 3 are the LINE side,(from the panel) 2 & 4 are the LOAD side, they go to the heater... not sure why they ran 10-3, but your not going to be using one of the conductors...

Molo · Mar 31, 2008

Better Pictures

Some Better Pics,

I believe this is a wiring problem, I have set these timers succesfully in the past, and this one continues to come on based on demand, not the timer. I have to use the manual lever if I want it to turn off.

Thanks for looking,
Molo

Chris75 · Mar 31, 2008

How is the water heater wired? Is the blue and yellow tied together at the heater? Its obviously wired wrong... just not sure why they ran 3 conductors to the water heater.

Molo · Mar 31, 2008

better pic. of inside of timer

A slightly better pic of the inside of the timer. The water heater doesn't pay attention to the timer. It turns on when there is demand. I've set these timers before with no problem, this is why I believe it may be a wiring problem.

Thanks for looking,
Molo

Speedy Petey · Mar 31, 2008

I have no idea what that blue is, but both yellows (I assume the load 240v) are on the same terminals as the red and black feed. The switch is doing nothing.

Molo · Mar 31, 2008

As you can see in the first pic. The timer is supplyed by 10-3. The timer then supplys the water heater through the flexible metal conduit.

The white from the 10-3 is in a wire nut all alone. The Large blue from the armored conduit does not go in the wire nut with the white from the 10-3. (the picture is deceiving)

Thanks for any input,
Molo

Speedy Petey · Mar 31, 2008

I see that. Can you tell us what the blue does?

Speedy Petey · Mar 31, 2008

As stated before, the two yellows need to be on terminals 2 & 4.

Molo · Mar 31, 2008

Pics of Upper & Lower Element Wiring

Pics of Upper & Lower Element Wiring. This is the best way of showing what the blue does.

Thanks again,

Jadnashua · Mar 31, 2008

The two hot leads from the power panel need to go to terminals 1 and 3 (doesn't matter which one goes where). Then, the two leads that go to the WH need to go on terminals 2 and 4. You have no connection on terminal 4. It MIGHT work, since it appears you have one lead connected to the hot line input, but won't work via the automatic switch. What you have is one hot lead connected to the WH all the time; the switch is only switching one lead, not opening both.

Jimbo · Apr 1, 2008

http://www.intermatic.com/images/instruction_sheets/wh40.pdf

http://waterheating.rheem.com/content/resources/documents/use_care/ResElecProfessional.pdf

You will need the wiring diagram for your water heater. The second link above is for Rheem, and may be instructional. Figure F on page 20 of the manual is how yours likely would be wired. It appears that in this configuration, the upper element is always live, but the lower element is controlled by the timer.

Can't tell from the pics of your water heater how that switched wire is connected, but it appears your t-stat configuration may not be compatible with timer operation. In any event, find the wiring instructions for your model, and go from there.

PEW · Apr 1, 2008

If you have off peak metering, that should be controlled by the off peak meter outside your house, which is under the control of the electric company, not a timer which you can control.

Molo · Apr 1, 2008

jimbo said:
http://www.intermatic.com/images/instruction_sheets/wh40.pdf

http://waterheating.rheem.com/content/resources/documents/use_care/ResElecProfessional.pdf

You will need the wiring diagram for your water heater. The second link above is for Rheem, and may be instructional. Figure F on page 20 of the manual is how yours likely would be wired. It appears that in this configuration, the upper element is always live, but the lower element is controlled by the timer.

Can't tell from the pics of your water heater how that switched wire is connected, but it appears your t-stat configuration may not be compatible with timer operation. In any event, find the wiring instructions for your model, and go from there.

Thanks Jimbo,
You may be right that only the lower thermostate can be controlled by the timer. There was a handwritten note on the upper thermostat cover to that effect. I'll have to look closer at the diagram and the wiring.

Speedy Petey · Apr 1, 2008

molo said:
You may be right that only the lower thermostate can be controlled by the timer. There was a handwritten note on the upper thermostat cover to that effect.

Well that would have been convenient information to have from the beginning.

Molo · Apr 1, 2008

Sorry Speedey, I didn't want to confuse the issue. I thought that showing the actual pics would be better than a note that was written a long time ago, and figured wiring could have changed since then.

hj · Apr 1, 2008

wiring

That is the way the timer is wired, but until you gave us that information, and the second set of pictures so we could see that it was the reason for the blue wire, we could not figure out why it was that way. Normally the timer controls the entire heater and it is not operated during the daytime. Therfore, all usage is off peak. The downside is that if the heater does not have enough capacity to take care of the hot water needs during the day, eventually you will be using cold water until the timer activates the heater.

Jimbo · Apr 1, 2008

As far as the so-called off peak, etc. I think there are two different situations.
1) The electric company simply has a meter that records TIME as well as usage. KW's used during off-peak hours are billed at a lower rate. I surmise this is the situation with the current poster. The timer is installed so that during the peak hours, the lower element would never come on, but if a lot of water was used, the upper would eventually come on.

2) The electric company actually controls your unit....with the ability to shut you off if their circuits are nearing brownout condition. I have only seen this done with air conditioning, but seems like WH would also be an appropriate application of this technique.

Timer for Water Heater (Pictures)

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