Electric Hot Water Heater Element Check

A water heater that produces no hot water may not be getting power or it may have a tripped limit switch or one or more failed heating elements.

Electric hot water heater element check.

The bottom element is heating the entire tank but it is not capable of heating the water to the same high temperature as if both elements were working. An electric hot water heater has two thermostats controlling two separate heating elements one in the upper half of the tank one in the lower half. When a hot water heater quits producing hot water the problem may be a faulty thermal cutout thermostat or heater element. More often than not the problem is a burned out water heater element.

The hot water heater must not be active have electrical power while you re testing the element. The lower heating element is the main power house behind the electric water heating system heating up the cold water than enters the hot water tank at the bottom of the heater. Remove the upper and lower access panels to the heating elements on the side of your water heater by using a screwdriver to undo the cover plate. First check the water heater s circuit breaker in the service panel to make sure it hasn t tripped.

Look for it in your home s basement laundry room or large storage closet. An electric water heater uses one or two heating elements to heat the water inside the tank. When a water heater no longer produces hot water the upper element on a double element water heater. If the electric water heater produces the same old quantity of hot water but water is only tepid rather than hot we suspect that the top water heater element has burned out.

Turn off the breaker that powers the hot water heater. Turn off the breaker switch to the hot water heater at the breaker box. The upper heating element simply raises. Usually when the upper thermostat goes bad you will have no hot water at all while a bad lower thermostat makes itself known when there is only a small amount of hot water before the tap water goes cold.

If the breaker has tripped switch it off then switch it back on again. The electric breaker is a roughly 1 ft 2 ft 30 cm 61 cm metal box that s attached to a wall. If the hot water heater is not working one of the thermostats may be bad. Electric water heaters have one or two elements and each is controlled by a thermostat.