state 80 gallon electric heater extra charge for instructions

usually changing the voltage of an electric water heater involves changing the elements.

Hi @mikedo , What are you trying to do? Are you going from AC to DC, or using 120 VAC instead of 240 VAC? 🤔

Yours, Larry

If you modify the factory wiring or elements I imagine you lose the UL listing, possibly warranty?

Changing element voltage or wattage is simple, changing the voltage to the heater, single to 3 phase, or factory wire size, not so easy

some quick looking at the state web site shows some commercial models that claims to be able to be set for something like 240v, 208v, 480v, and single or three phase delta or wye.

Best to use a water heater equipped with your current… (sorry) electrical system.

In the past, some water heaters were installed with a 20-amp breaker and #12AWG wire size. It was too small for a water heater. Upgrading to a 30-amp breaker and #10AWG wire is what is required on most residential water heaters.

Is this what you are referring to? Not sure where you're going with this.

Mikedo is correct. Government regulations don't want you to have a 66, 80, or 120 gallon electric water heater in your house, so the mfg's consider these "Light Service" commercial heaters. They ship as 277 volt single phase, 12.2kW wired simultaneously. Moving around a couple of wires gets it back to 240v 4.5kW. The stickers are for the next guy to work on it.

I disagree.
it’s the lawyers dictating

34 Dollars is to pay the lawyers, 1 dollar is for the paperwork and stickers.

Sound like bad logistics to me. The original sticker could simply state the factory wired voltage (probably already does) and have a check box for the check mark for the unit was modified to voltage. And the modifications instructions are put in the manual shipped with the unit.

I guess that is not what the lawyers want and would put a lot of folks out of work.

Yup, change the wiring and just walk away, don't pay the $35.

To me it is more likely the installer may mark a sticker than pay the $35 unless an inspector demands it. And having to order the modification kit may delay the installation or at least the commissioning. And once the installer learns what the $35 gets him will he do it again unless forced to ?

Thank you, @Joannie , for that clear answer! The price quoted for assembling a change packet is actually quite reasonable — these things don't happen for free.

There is also a reason for not including a variety of connection or other options in the original install manuals. I regret to say that they may not be read at all by many people — and worse, that they may be really confusing for people who lack basic knowledge (thermostats are even worse — when they say something like connect the red wire to this screw and the white to that one… and the wire colours aren't the "standard" one…). Having a specific and complete instruction package for a particular modification — and charging enough for it so that when the installer calls for help for a non-standard situation — isn't being petty.

And last, as comment on us — the denizens of The Wall. I hope no one has ever figured out just how much free — and top quality — advice some of these folks are giving out here… it's staggering.