I bought an ecosmart 18 tankless water heater.
Tankless water heater wire gauge.
Wires to the tankless water heater reviewing the electrical question.
The water heater should not have wiring coming out of it for splicing.
For example a 20 amp hot water heater needs 12 gauge wire a 25 amp hot water heater requires 10 gauge wire and a 30 to 40 amp hot water heater requires 8 gauge wire.
1 x 40 amps dp.
1 x 60 amps dp.
4 x 40 amps dp.
This way you are sure to protect the wire gauge of the circuit.
More about electrical wiring for a water heater.
3 x 40 amps dp.
1 x 30 amps.
Here is the spec sheet and your unit is a 13kw.
This electrical wiring project is about how to connect the wires from the circuit breakers to a ecosmart 18 tankless water heater.
Details the electrical requirements for the stiebel eltron tankless water heaters including amperage electrical service required wire gauge and breaker sizes that are recommended by the manufacturer etc.
If the existing cable is 12 2 type tn copper with tw or thw insulation then a 2pole 25amp breaker would be correct.
3 x 40 amps dp.
There should be terminals on the bottom of the unit which would accept a minimum of 6 gauge wire 240 volt coming from a 60 amp double pole breaker.
2 x 40 amps dp.
Recommended minimum wire gauge.
Some large heaters draw up to 50 amps requiring 6 gauge wire.