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Water heater, 110v problem

Yahoo Message Number: 88744
This is sort of a follow up to what Scott (Bus-stead lemon) said about expecting quality workmanship from Manufacturers and our repair sources.
My water heater was replaced a few years ago by Holland Motor Homes, San Diego CA.
I am writing this as a caution to all Country Coach owners: Inspect the work that is being performed on your coach, even at a reputable repair facility like Holland Motor Homes.
A few days ago, I had an incoming fresh water hose burst. It flooded the utility bay. Some of the spray reached under the tank area and flooded into the water heater compartment floor on the opposite side of the coach. After I stopped the flow, I opened the water heater access panel and proceeded to mop up the puddle with a large sponge. While doing this I bumped the small metal J-Box that housed the connecting wires for the 110 V power supply. I heard the unmistakable "splut" sound of 110 V grounding out and acrid odor of frying wire insulation. Of course this tripped the circuit breaker (thank goodness).
Upon inspection,I observed that the J-box was just dangling without any support or attachments. After removing the J-box cover I discovered that the stranded wire from the water heater and the incoming Romex wires were just shoved into the J-box and joined with wire nuts without being secured to the box with wire clamps. The box was not mounted to a bulkhead. Therefore, the weight of the box and its vibration going down the road caused the wire nuts to loosen. My slight bump moved the box just enough to make the hot wire contact the ground and "splut". Ground out!
"Access hole" is a misnomer. The opening is so small and the braided wires are so short that the entire water heater will probably need to be pulled to correct this problem that was caused by an inept, unqualified tech that installed this replacement unit. This all could have been avoided if I had inspected this area after the installation was completed,I would have discovered that standard house wiring electrical codes were ignored.
So now I am stuck with cleaning up after this tech's sloppy job!

Daron Hairabedian, 98 Allure, 30226

Water heater, 110v problem

Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 88746
This is sort of a follow up to what Scott (Bus-stead lemon) said about expecting quality workmanship from Manufacturers and our repair sources.

My water heater was replaced a few years ago by Holland Motor Homes, San Diego CA.
I am writing this as a caution to all Country Coach owners: Inspect the work that is being performed on your coach, even at a reputable repair facility like Holland Motor Homes.

A few days ago, I had an incoming fresh water hose burst. It flooded the utility bay. Some of the spray reached under the tank area and flooded into the water heater compartment floor on the opposite side of the coach. After I stopped the flow, I opened the water heater access panel and proceeded to mop up the puddle with a large sponge. While doing this I bumped the small metal J-Box that housed the connecting wires for the 110 V power supply. I heard the unmistakable "splut" sound of 110 V grounding out and acrid odor of frying wire insulation. Of course this tripped the circuit breaker (thank goodness).

Upon inspection,I observed that the J-box was just dangling without any support or attachments. After removing the J-box cover I discovered that the stranded wire from the water heater and the incoming Romex wires were just shoved into the J-box and joined with wire nuts without being secured to the box with wire clamps. The box was not mounted to a bulkhead. Therefore, the weight of the box and its vibration going down the road caused the wire nuts to loosen. My slight bump moved the box just enough to make the hot wire contact the ground and "splut". Ground out!
"Access hole" is a misnomer. The opening is so small and the braided wires are so short that the entire water heater will probably need to be pulled to correct this problem that was caused by an inept, unqualified tech that installed this replacement unit. This all could have been avoided if I had inspected this area after the installation was completed,I would have discovered that standard house wiring electrical codes were ignored.
So now I am stuck with cleaning up after this tech's sloppy job!

Daron Hairabedian, 98 Allure, 30226