HWH stopped making hot water on electric

Rrloren

Well-known member
Been traveling a couple weeks and started off fine making hot water using electric,until one evening last week when we tripped a breaker because wife had 2 curling irons plugged in. Reset and everything works except hot water. Using propane to heat the water.
Have checked all the switches I know of and one by one pulled every fuse and all are good.

The switch for the electric still lights up like it's working but water doesn't heat, I checked for voltage at the electrode and can't find any. I just replaced the electrode last Fall and haven't turned it on w/o water in tank. Is there another fuse or breaker that I haven't found? Not sure where else to look, and I would be surprised if the element is bad again.
 

cookie

Administrator
Staff member
I would turn off the breaker for the water heater and turn it back on.
There may also be two reset buttons on the water heater itself. They are hidden under a rubber cover. They should be marked.

Peace
Dave
 

PUG

Pug
did you check for voltage at the heating element? if so you are not getting juice there. seems to me there are also some red push button fuses in the front bay up on the rear wall.
 

Rrloren

Well-known member
I have reset the breaker , no help. I have reset the two black buttons altho it doesn't feel like anything really resets when pushed.
I also re-looked in the forward basement and the only fuse I see is the one for the front jacks which I'm quite familiar with.
I currently have the propane off and when the water cools down I'll try the electric again.
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Hi Rrloren,

I've attached a draft copy of a document that may help you determine where the problem is on the electric side of the water heater. Please let me know if it's at all helpful. Any feedback on specifics of the document is also welcome.
 

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  • Water Heater Electric Testing draft 1.pdf
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Garypowell

Well-known member
My problem was the "secondary switch". Dan refers to in his document that is on the face of the heater. It had corroded inside and no flipping the switch would make it work. So I removed it from the circuit (it just pops out) by hooking the two wires directly together. Since I had a switch on the inside it did not concern me.
 

Rrloren

Well-known member
Hi Rrloren,

I've attached a draft copy of a document that may help you determine where the problem is on the electric side of the water heater. Please let me know if it's at all helpful. Any feedback on specifics of the document is also welcome.


Thanks for the manual, I'll try removing the reset cover and see if I can test the thermostat.The toggle switch in the cabinet is lit but i couldn't detect power at the electrode, maybe it wasn't calling for heat at the time or something is wrong with the thermostat.
 

dfowler

Member
I had the same problem. After checking all that I knew to check, I took the black cover off the thermostat and the thermostat had burned out (the one on the left). I replaced it ($35.00) and the water heats fine now on electricity.
 
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