ruthrj18
Member
Hello all,
Avid DIY’er, currently stumped. Went to take a shower Sunday night and the water was lukewarm. Circuit breaker wasn’t tripped, power is on to my water heater but it wasn’t heating. Broke out the multimeter to test everything with the power to the water heater off.
ECO not tripped. Both the upper and lower element are reading ~13 ohm. Good, both elements are 4500 watts. Lower thermostat is good, it’s reading 0 across the terminals (with upper thermostat set at both highest or lowest settings). Upper thermostat failed: Not getting a zero reading across its terminals, upper thermostat set to max with lower thermostat set to lowest. Upper thermostat does not audibly click on or off when adjusting between highest and lowest settings.
Replaced the upper thermostat and presto, everything was working. Water heater worked overnight. Fast forward 24 hours, and I’m in the exact same situation again! Water not as hot as it should be, same exact measurements as above.
I’m stumped. What would kill a brand new upper thermostat? Seems like the brand new one is shot again.
Water heater is a 50 gallon classic series, professional by Rheem. Only 2 years old. Always have the upper and lower thermostat a set to 140, and I have a thermostatic mixing valve to bring the water down to 120 before it reaches any faucets. Any suggestions you could throw my way would be greatly appreciated. I could throw another thermostat on there but I’m worried it’ll die just as quickly without replacing something else.
Avid DIY’er, currently stumped. Went to take a shower Sunday night and the water was lukewarm. Circuit breaker wasn’t tripped, power is on to my water heater but it wasn’t heating. Broke out the multimeter to test everything with the power to the water heater off.
ECO not tripped. Both the upper and lower element are reading ~13 ohm. Good, both elements are 4500 watts. Lower thermostat is good, it’s reading 0 across the terminals (with upper thermostat set at both highest or lowest settings). Upper thermostat failed: Not getting a zero reading across its terminals, upper thermostat set to max with lower thermostat set to lowest. Upper thermostat does not audibly click on or off when adjusting between highest and lowest settings.
Replaced the upper thermostat and presto, everything was working. Water heater worked overnight. Fast forward 24 hours, and I’m in the exact same situation again! Water not as hot as it should be, same exact measurements as above.
I’m stumped. What would kill a brand new upper thermostat? Seems like the brand new one is shot again.
Water heater is a 50 gallon classic series, professional by Rheem. Only 2 years old. Always have the upper and lower thermostat a set to 140, and I have a thermostatic mixing valve to bring the water down to 120 before it reaches any faucets. Any suggestions you could throw my way would be greatly appreciated. I could throw another thermostat on there but I’m worried it’ll die just as quickly without replacing something else.