Water Heater Continues to trip breaker

[superdave10]

My water heater continues to keep tripping the breaker. Last night I drained the tank, cleared a lot of sediment from the bottom of the tank and replaced both elements. I flipped the breaker back on and everthing appeared to be fine. I checked the breaker before going to bed about an hour later and it was still OK. This morning I got up and no hot water and the breaker was tripped again.

Any ideas or suggestions? I don't want to replace more parts that don't need to be replaced.

[rav12]

You could have a fault in the wiring between the breaker and the water heater. Possibly two bare end of wires could be touching each other and causing the overload. Have you opened up the wiring in the wall to the heater to check.

It could also be a faulty thermostat. Although you will be without hot water the best way to see if the fault is at the heater or in the wiring, disconnected the heater wiring for a while and see if the problem keeps happening.