Electric Hot Water Heater Thermostat Test

Electric water heater thermostats are a fairly simple devices that can fail from time to time.

Electric hot water heater thermostat test.

Measuring the voltage of a water heater thermostat using a digital multimeter. You can test them with the power off using an ohmmeter to measure resistance or with the power on using a voltmeter to measure voltage. At times the water from your electric heater could be cold and the heater not functional despite the power being on. If you want to test a thermostat on an electric water heater you will also need to check the heating element.

This is important especially as open and grounded heating elements result in inaccurate tests. How to test a water heater element with a multimeter. Look for it in your home s basement laundry room or large storage closet. Remaining always on is the most common issue with electric water heaters.

When an upper heating element or thermostat fails the entire water heater stops producing hot water. An electric hot water heater has two thermostats controlling two separate heating elements one in the upper half of the tank one in the lower half. The hot water heater must not be active have electrical power while you re testing the element. Here are the steps to follow while measuring the voltage of your heaters thermostat.

How to test water heater thermostat this case might happen for the defected thermostat. When a water heater no longer produces hot water. An electric water heater uses one or two heating elements to heat the water inside the tank. Usually when the upper thermostat goes bad you will have no hot water at all while a bad lower thermostat makes itself known when there is only a small amount of hot water before the tap water goes cold.

Turn off the breaker that powers the hot water heater. If the hot water heater is not working one of the thermostats may be bad. The electric breaker is a roughly 1 ft 2 ft 30 cm 61 cm metal box that s attached to a wall. In such a case there is a need to carry out a voltage test.

In this case testing the thermostat is a little bit of a technical task but not hard at all. Although most of the cases this scenario occurs for the power supply problems. Testing is the only option if you want to determine whether or not one or both of them has failed. To look for faults you will need to use a screwdriver.

When a lower heating element or thermostat fails the top thermostat and element will continue to heat water in the upper half of the tank but you will notice the hot water quickly runs out or is only lukewarm.