Water Heaters - Thermostat Tripping
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scilipoti
11-25-08, 06:10 AM
Early this past spring I had to replace the lower heating element in the hot water heater. This may or may not be relevant.
It worked fine until this past week when the upper thermostat tripped. I checked both elements and they read about 12.7 ohms. So they're good.
I replaced the upper thermostat and it was ok for about two days and then tripped again.
I'm going to get a lower thermostat and replace that also.
Here's my questions.
1. Is there a way to check the lower thermostat before replacing it?
2. If I replace it and I still get tripping, what next?
3. Also, when I replaced the upper thermostat, there wasn't enough slack in the black lead going to the lower element so I just extended it with two pieces of 14 ga wire. I didn't have any 10 ga handy. I was afraid to pull too hard on the wire to get more slack because I didn't want to damage anything. Would I be safe pulling that wire out a few inches with a pair of pliers?
Joe
It worked fine until this past week when the upper thermostat tripped. I checked both elements and they read about 12.7 ohms. So they're good.
I replaced the upper thermostat and it was ok for about two days and then tripped again.
I'm going to get a lower thermostat and replace that also.
Here's my questions.
1. Is there a way to check the lower thermostat before replacing it?
2. If I replace it and I still get tripping, what next?
3. Also, when I replaced the upper thermostat, there wasn't enough slack in the black lead going to the lower element so I just extended it with two pieces of 14 ga wire. I didn't have any 10 ga handy. I was afraid to pull too hard on the wire to get more slack because I didn't want to damage anything. Would I be safe pulling that wire out a few inches with a pair of pliers?
Joe