Electric Hot Water Heater Troubleshooting

If the hot water heater is not working one of the thermostats may be bad.

Electric hot water heater troubleshooting.

In some cases the water is too hot. Before checking any electrical parts of a water heater shut off the power to the heater s circuit by turning off the appropriate breaker in your home s service panel breaker box. If that doesn t work perform a hard reset by shutting off power to the water heater at the circuit breaker box. If your electric hot water heater is slow to heat runs out of hot water faster than it used to or doesn t deliver any hot water at all there s a 90 percent chance that simply replacing one or both of the heating elements will solve the problem.

Electric water heaters are high voltage 240 volt appliances that are dangerous to work with when the power is on. At times people see puddles or hear popping sounds near water heaters. There may be no hot water in the house at all. Fast water heater company discusses how to troubleshoot a failing electric water heater.

When the water s not hot enough the problem can be an undersized water heater crossed hot and cold connections or a faulty heating element or thermostat. You can test them with the power off using an ohmmeter to measure resistance or with the power on using a voltmeter to measure voltage. Electric water heaters use either 120 or 240 volt power 240 volts is more common to energize metal heating elements that protrude into the water heater tank through the side wall. See electrical safety tips for information on working safely around electricity.

In fact the combination of volts and amps in an electric water heater can be lethal. Often there is some hot water available but it runs out quickly. Wait about hour and see if your water heats up. Electric water heaters have one or two elements and each is controlled by a thermostat.

The first things to check are the thermostat and elements of the hot. Turn off the water heater for a few minutes and then turn it back on. Electric hot water heater problems. For electric hot water heaters start troubleshooting with a quick reset.

To rule out an undersized heater check to make sure the heater has 75 percent of its capacity as hot water. Most water heaters have two heating elements one near the top of the tank another located further down.