Test Water Heater Element Thermostat

Now sometimes you use the hot water tap to only discover cold water coming out.

Test water heater element thermostat.

How to test an electric hot water heater thermostat step 1. Common residential dual element water heaters are 240 volts. Remove the upper and the lower access panels with a phillips screwdriver. To look at the faults in the upper thermostat you need to turn off the lower one.

Pull away any insulation that is. Start by checking the thermostat terminals for the supply of power. When it goes bad you don t have any hot water at all. Test the water heater thermostat testing the water heater thermostat involves the checking of the heating element also.

You can find this information on the data tag on the side of the water heater. The upper thermostat controls both the upper and lower element. If you want to test a thermostat on an electric water heater you will also need to check the heating element. The access panels are on the side of.

If the opposite thing happens that means your thermostat has defected. You can find the voltage written on the end of the heating element. In this case also check the current at the high limit switch. If the water is cold the multimeter will point near zero.

Turn the water heater circuit breaker off inside the main service panel. If the data tag is missing you can identify single element vs dual element by the number of access panels on the water heater. You will also need to check the water heater thermostat with digital multimeter tools. Connect the multimeter pin ends on point 1 2 as shown in the picture below.

This article deals with thermostats on electric water heaters. This is when the upper thermostat has a problem. Before you proceed further with the process of testing the heater thermostat take a screwdriver and the multimeter. Check the power supply of the thermostat.

Both thermostats control two different heating elements for the heater to function. Testing water heater thermostats is important in locating water heater problems. This is important especially as open and grounded heating elements result in inaccurate tests. If you get the reading of 240v on terminal 1 and terminal 3 then the power is on but if you get no readings then the power is off.