home electric water heater is stuck on

RenegadeT

RenegadeT

no shirt,no shoes,no dice
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School me on home water heaters...
My electric water heater is putting out scalding hot water. I noticed I had to put my shower almost to no hot water and it was still friggin hot. Wifey called me today at work, said there was no hot water, so I walked her thru opening the panel to hit the reset switch. Well now its pumping out super hot water again, and will probably trip again.
So I poked around here, but I don't really know what I'm doing. 50 gal. electric made by State water heaters, upper and lower t'stats are set to the minimum so we don't scald the kids, 2x 4500 watt elements. I didnt check amp draw at each element, but checked to see if the elements were grounded. I didnt find any resistance. Each element had about 15ohms when I probed both terminal screws, no wiring connected, tank full of water.
The thing is almost 3 years old, but we have a lot of sediment from our well. I put a 5micron filter on the water supply after about a year, then drained the tank. Should I just call the plumbers who installed it, and pay the labor. The owners manual says I have a 6yr warranty on parts.
Thanks :beer:
 
Just a shot in the dark here since I know very little about water heaters. Maybe the thermosatat is screwed up?
 
rockcity said:
hot water heaters are cheap and easy to install. get a new one and be done with it...
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I'm not too psyched to replace the whole thing, I'd rather pay a plumber to make it good as new. Its not even 3 years old yet.

96tacolx said:
Just a shot in the dark here since I know very little about water heaters. Maybe the thermosatat is screwed up?
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well yeah, that thought crossed my mind :flipoff2:
looks like a 'rebuild' kit, 2 tstats and 2 elements is $30 at the depot. http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100288029&N=10000003+90282+502972
 
GET THE ELEMENT SOCKET !!! IT's worth the extra $5

I've done this on my POS twice ( in one week even ), the thermostat needs to touch the tank, so be sure to make sure it is sitting right when you are done ( this is what caused the second rebuild, it stayed on till it literally burned out the element.)

Actually, the best time for this to happen is about 7:30 pm on the Wed night before Thanksgiving and your parent's have just arrived and want to relax with a nice hot shower, and your shit pukes. I was definatly a fun Thanksgiving with now hot water.
 
This is exactly what a buddy of mine just got done dealing with. All the way to the wattage and ohms readings on the elements, but a different brand, I believe. He replaced both stats with generic replacements, but it was the bottom one that fixed it.
 
yeah, water heater parts are cheap... I replaced everything in mine for about $80.. both elements, both t-stats. Figured if one was bad, the other couldn't be far behind.
 
easy to fix but A MUST, after replacing them refill the tank with water before turning the elec back on, they are designed to run under water, energizing dry will explode them damn near instantly.....
 
Blkvoodoo said:
GET THE ELEMENT SOCKET !!! IT's worth the extra $5.
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Amen to that!

I picked up the home depot plumbers pack (link doesnt look like its working above), $30 for 2 elements and 2 tstats, then $7 for the socket. My shower this morning was toasty warm and didnt sear the flesh of my bones.
Thanks guys :huggy:
 
wish i had seen this earlier, i could have gotten the parts warrantied for you no problem.

anyway, yep this is a somewhat common problem with thermostat failures. the most common one is opposite though. you'll have hot water for a few minutes, then it goes cold quickly. it was tripping the reset button at 180 degrees most likely, that's what most do for safety even though you can still burn yourself pretty good at that temp.

it's a shame that heaters are suck pieces of junk now. it's like everything else, i guess they realized they were making things too good. the manufacturers design them to only last about 10 years at best now and the tanks fail. we used to regularly service heaters that were 20-30+ years old and still going strong. my grandmother has one in her house that's approaching 45 years. most of them from that era are about completely phased out by now though.

you can still get high end heaters that will give you decades of service, but they cost 2-3 times as much so it's kind of pointless unless you need the other features they provide.

easy to fix but A MUST, after replacing them refill the tank with water
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you don't even have to drain the tank. when you pull an element, it'll drain a little bit then it airlocks as long as everything else in the house is closed and the main is off. be quick about it and you might lose a cup full or so at the most.

just a general warning to anyone else doing their own work, an electric heater is NOT something to screw around with unless you're very careful and make SURE the power is off to it. 240v + water in close proximity can make you have a very bad day. don't even touch the access covers with it on, it's possible for the whole shell to become energized in certain malfunctions or tank leaks.

also, in these times of rising energy costs keep in mind that conventional heaters suck down electricity and gas at alarming rates. since so many of us are frequently out of town for wheeling trips and other things, turning off your heater while you're gone can make a surprising difference in your bill. insulating hot water lines makes a noticeable difference as well, especially in the winter.
 
RufusTheRam said:
you don't even have to drain the tank. when you pull an element, it'll drain a little bit then it airlocks as long as everything else in the house is closed and the main is off. be quick about it and you might lose a cup full or so at the most.
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I read that too, but when it started spilling out as I loosened the element, I figured I'd be that .05% who gets 55 gallons of water all over the house.
 
Rich said:
I read that too, but when it started spilling out as I loosened the element, I figured I'd be that .05% who gets 55 gallons of water all over the house.
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exactly if its in the crawl space go ahead....if you are on a slab or its in the attic, you dont take the chance....
 
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