here's one for a lively disscussion guys. was called to fix a hot water heater today standard old 240/4000 watt unit.found that it needed a new upper thermostat due to water getting in.checked the power that is connected to a small safety switch with fuses.person that installed it last had two 30 amp fuses on a #12 wire.no ground on the heater case at all. so go & replace the fuses & wire with the correct size.turn on the switch & its pullling 28 amps through a 20 amp fuse.so i cut it off & discover picked up wrong thermostat.go back & put in correctone & load drops to 14 amps(one element). the funny thing is the fuses should have blown almost immediately from overload.when i took them out after a min or 2, you couldn't even hold them.took them back to the hardware store & told the manger, he might have a big problem.he first asked if my amp meter had been calibrated, told him nope i trusted my fluke meter, not to mention the wire was getting hot. btw these were not buss orothr fuses but a wel known hardware chain ---. what do you guys think? i belive hey were miss labeled, that means DANGER!
