Sigh. Sparks flying..Electrical question

[Wolf mom]

I have a timer on my electric hot water tank. I was changing the on/off time tabs & one slipped hitting the red wire screw head. Sparks flew - sounded like a .22! Checked the circuit breaker in the breaker pannel - still on. Then I turned the electricity off.
Seems I welded one end of the tab to the screw for the red wire and the other end to the tab that clicks the timer on & off switch under the time face plate. It does not move, so I cannot change the switch to on so the water heater will work all the time. It was in the Off position when I started messing with this, so I suppose I now have no hot water.

O.K. I have learned to turn off the main circuit breaker switch as of now. Or better yet, not play with electricity. Oh, and I'll go check/push the red button (circuit breaker?) on the water heater.

Questions: Do you think I"ll need a new timer? How do I "unweld" the tab from the screw head and the timer tab? I took all the on/off tabs out - Do you think the hot water heater is OK? Is this a job I can do (remember, I'm batting very low with electricity) if I turn off the electricity and follow the same wiring to change out the timer?

[kbshorts]

I really doubt if you hurt your water heater. You shorted from one hot leg to the grounded timer dial. You are probably going to have to replace the timer. On some timers, the timer and contacts can be removed from the enclosure which makes changing them very easy. Look for a tab, usually on the right side of the enclosure that holds the assembly in. Get a new timer and change it, one wire at a time, making sure your connections are tight. When you are picking up that timer, get yourself a contact-less voltage tester, simple to use and might save your life.
KB

[tyusclan]

I agree the water heater should not be affected. This is a fairly simple job that you should be able to do. In the meantime, until you get the timer changed out, there should be a tab on the timer that you can move manually to turn the water heater on and off.

[Macybaby]

Do you have a GE main panel? - around here they have the nickname of "welder" as they seem to be prone to NOT tripping when they should. After a few times of having things happen that should have caused a trip, my DH replaced the GE panel with a different one.

Cathy