Camco 02962/02963 5500W 240V Screw-In Lime Life Ripple Water Heater Element - Ultra Low Watt Density

I used this to replace a 3800W element in my one year old Sears 40 gallon hot water heater. It was determined that the 3800W element did not have enough recovery ability so we swapped it out. Note: Using this 5500W element meant replacing the feed wiring from 12 gauge to 10 gauge wire. It is "appliance wire" which has a jacket with a higher melting point (105C) than standard 10 gauge wire which is around 85 t0 90C. So far it seems to have been the right move as I'm not running out of hot water. I like the design of this Camco Element in that it's curved rather than the conventional straight tubing. It is longer than the element I took out but it fit into my 40 gallon water heater without a problem.

I bought this for a RIMS system on my home brewery. With that in mind:I was able to adapt this for use in a 1" NPT fitting with no problems. Took a bit of teflon tape, but no leaks and no issues. It fits well in a 18", 1 1/2" stainless nipple with a tee and bell reducer on it. I hook it to 220VAC (I have read on some forums that 110VAC will work for the RIMS, but have not tried that), and it will heat water or wort at full flow of my Chugger brand mash pump with ease. I am able to maintain recirculation temperature within about 0.5F with this heater.Overall, while I do not use this for it's intended purpose, I am very happy with the purchase.

This element is a Hard Water Hero. Here is the story. Soft water is 17 ppm. Very hard water is 180 ppm. My well produces water hardness of 600 parts per million. On a bad day when you hold a clear glass of it in the sunlight you can see anvils and cannonballs swirling around. We run a softener on the dishwasher and kitchen sink. Everything else is straight from the well. For a while I was replacing traditional elements every year or so. Installed one of these and it lasted SIX YEARS! 50 gallon tank. 4 folks in the home. If I'd done the slightest maintenance it might still be working. This thing is not only tough, it's cheaper in the long run.Here's some advice. Bear in mind I am not a professional plumber or building inspector. Consult with both of them and the dogcatcher too before following my advice or better yet just read this for educational and entertainment purposes. This part of the country has a lot of limestone and calcium in well water. Deposits on plumbing and residue in water heater confirm. I've only tested for hardness, not composition. Different water compositions will give different results. There was a lot of sediment in the heater above the level of the element which is probably what killed it after 6 years of dutiful service. .My maintenance plan going forward is to install a big ball valve in place of the drain valve so that I can periodically drain out the sediment through a temporary hose. A ball valve allows a straight shot to shove a stick in to dislodge sediment. Best to switch off power to the heater and send somebody in for a long shower to cool the water. If they come out of the shower blue and shivering it's cool enough to work on. Use the incoming valve to throttle down the flow and then fully open the ball valve to clear out sediment. The stick might come in handy here. It's going to be messy because it happens near ground level. With luck the temporary tube will flow sediment straight into the bucket. I am contemplating this on an annual basis because when the element finally gave out the heat warped it and made removal quite difficult. I'd like to avoid that in the future and the maintenance should extend product life.

I was initially not impressed with the build quality. The two elements I purchased are poorly bent such that the elements are not perpendicular to the base and are not aligned on the outward and foldback sections. The poor bending made getting the elements in to the water tank quite a chore but it still only took about a minute each to finesse them in.The nuts you put the wrench on do not fit a 1½" socket, they are about 1/16" too large to fit well, but I did manage to get the elements tightened with my socket through sheer will. The pessimist in me says that Camco does this so you'll purchase their custom "element wrench". To be clear: the elements I've removed and replaced from two other heaters with this socket fit perfectly in the socket, these Camco elements are the first to not have a proper 1½" nut.The elements are, understandably, not simple to get started when screwing them in, they are not balanced so it takes a lot of finger strength to keep them tangent to the tank to get the threads to catch and not cross-thread. Once they were started they screwed in fine and fit in my tank well. I can imagine a tool you'd clamp down on the electrical connection screws that would allow better lever to manipulate the oddly weighted elements.So far no hissing/squealing from my tank with these elements installed and the initial heating seemed to happen much faster than the older elements would achieve. This makes sense as in general lower watt density (heat flux) means more efficiency. Between this effect and the simple fact of not having scale collect on the elements I'm hoping I will see noticeably lower electric bills.I'd suggest these to a friend if they were looking to solve the same problems as I was.FYI: you should at least inspect, and probably replace your sacrificial anode rod in the tank while doing the element replacement. A good magnesium rod will extend the life of your tank and elements. The anode rods are usually a PAIN to get out but you can double or triple your tank life if you replace a worn down rod.