Electric Hot Water Heater Element Check

The upper heating element simply raises.

Electric hot water heater element check.

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. First check the water heater s circuit breaker in the service panel to make sure it hasn t tripped. If the breaker has tripped switch it off then switch it back on again. 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.

Turn off the breaker that powers the hot water heater. More often than not the problem is a burned out water heater element. The upper heating element is made up of a series of metal loops that have been electrically charges causing them to heat up. 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.

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. 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. When a water heater no longer produces hot water the upper element on a double element water heater. When a hot water heater quits producing hot water the problem may be a faulty thermal cutout thermostat or heater element.

The hot water heater must not be active have electrical power while you re testing the element. The electric breaker is a roughly 1 ft 2 ft 30 cm 61 cm metal box that s attached to a wall. 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 water heater uses one or two heating elements to heat the water inside the tank.

Look for it in your home s basement laundry room or large storage closet. If the heater is an electric unit unplug it from the outlet. 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 switch to the hot water heater at the breaker box.