Water Heaters - Elec hot water heater needs help.
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doofdog
12-22-04, 08:58 PM
Let me first say learn everything the hard way!
Cliffs Notes.
water heater burst. flooded garage.
replaced with new water heater.
connected it w/o reading manual and turned on power before full.
checked both elements bottom looked ok. top fried.
replaced top element filled and turned on.
Hot water seems to take its time getting to the faucet.
used multimeter . disconected one wire from elements and put meter to horse shoe symbol. and got 12. on both elements.
turned on elec. set thermostat to 150deg. and got 240v on top element and 12v on bottom. turned back to 120deg.
opened drain and felt cold water from bottom of tank. any thoughts?
Cliffs Notes.
water heater burst. flooded garage.
replaced with new water heater.
connected it w/o reading manual and turned on power before full.
checked both elements bottom looked ok. top fried.
replaced top element filled and turned on.
Hot water seems to take its time getting to the faucet.
used multimeter . disconected one wire from elements and put meter to horse shoe symbol. and got 12. on both elements.
turned on elec. set thermostat to 150deg. and got 240v on top element and 12v on bottom. turned back to 120deg.
opened drain and felt cold water from bottom of tank. any thoughts?
Mike Swearingen
12-22-04, 09:14 PM
doofdog,
If you ever have small children in the house, don't set the tstats above 120-125 to help prevent scalding. I don't, so I keep mine at 140.
Cold water goes to the bottom of the tank through the dip tube, pushing the heated water up and out the top hot water pipe of the heater. Colder water draining from the bottom of a heater is normal.
Only one element will heat at a time. If the tank water is cold (from using a lot of hot water or just turning a filled heater on), the top element will heat first. The bottom element usually does most of the heating during normal operation. Your voltage reading was right.
I assume by now that you have a full tank of hot water, if you've given the heater about 20-30 minutes to heat the full tank.
Good luck!
Mike
If you ever have small children in the house, don't set the tstats above 120-125 to help prevent scalding. I don't, so I keep mine at 140.
Cold water goes to the bottom of the tank through the dip tube, pushing the heated water up and out the top hot water pipe of the heater. Colder water draining from the bottom of a heater is normal.
Only one element will heat at a time. If the tank water is cold (from using a lot of hot water or just turning a filled heater on), the top element will heat first. The bottom element usually does most of the heating during normal operation. Your voltage reading was right.
I assume by now that you have a full tank of hot water, if you've given the heater about 20-30 minutes to heat the full tank.
Good luck!
Mike
doofdog
12-22-04, 09:19 PM
My cliffs notes were not detailed enough I guess.
I did turn it back to 120. should water come out the drain valve on the tank be ice cold? I only opened it enough to get a 1/4 of a cup of water but it was cold. its a new tank and it takes forever to get hot water to the faucets.
I did turn it back to 120. should water come out the drain valve on the tank be ice cold? I only opened it enough to get a 1/4 of a cup of water but it was cold. its a new tank and it takes forever to get hot water to the faucets.
Mike Swearingen
12-22-04, 09:30 PM
How long has the heater been turned on?
The water coming out of a heater drain (that has just been turned on) will be as cold as the cold water coming out of a faucet because the dip tube is shooting it right to the bottom of the heater, and only the top element will be heating at that time. The drain will drain that incoming cold water first.
Hot water running through the supply pipes will cool down very quickly in the winter, and you'll normally have to run the faucet a bit longer to get hot water to it.
Mike
The water coming out of a heater drain (that has just been turned on) will be as cold as the cold water coming out of a faucet because the dip tube is shooting it right to the bottom of the heater, and only the top element will be heating at that time. The drain will drain that incoming cold water first.
Hot water running through the supply pipes will cool down very quickly in the winter, and you'll normally have to run the faucet a bit longer to get hot water to it.
Mike