Reliance water sending electric bill sky high

[sivright]

Greetings All,

I have a 8 yr old Reliance 501 hot water heater that seems to be working just fine until I got my monthly electric bill. I turned the heater off at the breaker and the electric meter stopped spinning, so I am sure it is the water heater. How do I track down what part in the heater is defective? The lady at the electric co. said she had a customer that had a bad thermostat in his heater and replaced it and he was fine. My heater looks to have four thermostats. Is there a way to test them? Any idea what else it could be. I am on a rather tight budget right now and I would rather not call a plumber. I installed the heater myself, so I can do some things. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Jim

[jadnashua]

Is the water temp as you set it?

Is it very high? Excessively high setting can be expensive.

How old is the tank?

Does it recover as fast as it used to?

Have you ever drained it? The element covered in sediment acts like an insulator making it run longer than normal.

[sivright]

It was drained this fall. It is 8 years old and I have never touched the thermostat setting which was factory set at 120, I think.
This is something that has come on in the last month or so, as my electric bill last month was normal.
I'm not sure how to answer the recover question, except to say that it is a fairly large 30 gal? heater and this is a one person household.I am never at a loss for hot water. Does this help?
Jim

[hj]

If the heater is "heating" then even if it were a thermostat or element, eventually the water would get too hot and trip the high limit switch. More than likely you have a concrete slab floor and you have a broken hot water pipe under it so the heater is working 24/7 tying to keep up with the demand. If it is not a leak under the floor there is one somewhere draining the hot water from the tank.

[sivright]

hj,
Thanks for responding. No water in the utility room where the heater is, no water under the house(pier & beam) can't hear water running. I don't think it is a leak. It seems like some internal electrical part to me. Any other ideas?
Jim

[jadnashua]

The only thing that I can think of that might cause this, assuming your dianosis is correct, is that you have a high impedance short to ground in the heater. If it was a true low impedance short, it would trip your circuit breaker, but if there were a short circuit that didn't exceed the circuit breaker's rating, it could be constant and thus increase your electrical costs. Note, if this is the case, it is a very dangerous situation, since under the right conditions, you could electrocute yourself. If you have a multimeter, connect one side to a good ground, and probe around on the tank with the other. If you get a reading anywhere except on an electrical lead, you should immediately turn the circuit breaker off, and find or fix the problem. At 8 years old, it is probably time for a new one. My unprofessional opinion. If you have or can borrow an inductive ammeter, you could also determine the quiescent current draw (i.e., when the thermostat is not calling for heat, the thing should essentially draw nothing).