Interesting electrical issue

[joemach]

I went to a hot water heater today that was not working. The breaker was not tripped, but I turned the breaker off and back on and the water heater was working again. I waited until the top element was satisfied and the lower element was energized and did not kick the breaker.

We had a storm a few days ago and that is when it was reported that the hot water heater went out. This was Square D QO breakers. Any ideas on what is going on here. Bad breaker?

I called it good for now to get them some hot water and will see if it goes out again.

Never say this happen before.

[John Culpepper]

Two pole breaker? Maybe half of the breaker was tripped? I've seen that a couple of times on 2 pole breakers for clothes dryers. The drum would turn, but no heat.

[lynn comstock]

Amp draw/breaker size?
Loose connection at breaker or bus bar?
Teach the owner how to reset a breaker.
One trip does not warrant a breaker replacement.

[Joab]

I can't even count the number of times I've reset a breaker that didn't flip the handle over... One of the first things I do on a no power call is run my fingers down the breakers to see if a handle is loose and will flip to off or tripped with just a bit of pressure.

[joemach]

Turns out the tenant pushed the breaker to the on position after it tripped without cycling it fully off first. All has been working OK since I reset it.

Thanks for all the input.