On Saturday morning I thought I smelled something burning in the basement, but I didn’t see anything on fire. I smelled the same smell again on Sunday morning and thought I had better do a little investigating. I noticed that the smell was coming from the hot water heater so I looked at both of the elements and sure enough, one of them was overheating and melting the element and the attached wire. I turned it off and turned off the water.
Luckily I have been through this before, so on Sunday night I was able to drain the thing and put in a new element. I am glad the house did not burn down.