| Author | Message | ||
     Spank |
I have this electric water heater at our cottage in northern Wi. One of the water pipes came apart on top of the heater and soaked the whole thing. I let it dry out (as much as I could) and now at best I get luke warm water out of the closest faucet, only for a few seconds. Now my question is...is the whole thing shot and needs to be replaced (that's what customer service said when I called them) or is it just a matter of replacing thermostats? Any and all help will be appreciated! | ||
| Cyclonedon |
how long did you give it to heat back up? It will take awhile to get the tank hot again. | ||
| Spank |
I let it heat up over night. Funny thing too was that it never tripped the breaker when it got wet. | ||
| Two_seasons |
Sounds like you shorted out the elements. If it's more than four years old, replace it. If the water up north is as hard as it is in Slinger, you know what I mean. | ||
| Svh |
One of the elements, probably the lower one of the two, is shot. Happened to me once. Mine was only heating the top part of the water heater so all you get is luke warm water. | ||
| Cyclonedon |
if you have to replace it, go with the new tankless model so you won't have to heat the water when your not up North. | ||
| Spank |
Two_seasons - That is the crappy part...It's about a year old. Long story short...My mom closed down the cottage for winter (supposedly). Well we get up there in late winter/early spring, turn on the water and find out there are a couple of broken pipes and there is a crack in the water heater. Well I fix the broken pipes and replace the heater. I must of missed one above the heater, because after I had the heater filled and the water turned on the pipe just pops off and dumps water all over the heater. From that point on it hasn't heated anything... And yes the water up there in Tomahawk might be harder then here in Slinger. The water heater I replaced had been up there since the late 60's...only had to replace the elements once! | ||
| Spank |
Cyclonedon - We usually just turn it off along with the water pump when we leave at the end of the weekend, just in case. But yeah, that is definitely in the plans for the future...I know they aren't cheap. | ||
| Two_seasons |
If you do go tankless, do it the European way. Over there, they install them under the kitchen sink and have a water heater box in each bathroom. | ||
| Blk_uly |
go to home depot they sell the whole electronic arts in a kit for like 30 bucks and just replace every thing. http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/productImages/300 /16/16efae88-9abb-4db6-9d5b-7c1dd430d141_300.jpg | ||
| Cyclonedon |
Tomahawk, are you doing the annual fall ride up there? I've been there a couple of times. Use to watch Bubba Blackwell perform there. | ||
| Spank |
Blk_uly - Thanks for that idea! I will check that out! Cyclonedon - Yes I will be up there, I have been going since '96. Bubba has been gone a couple years now...heard he will be back this year. If you ever go again or if you need a place to stay up there let me know. My place is only about three miles east of town. If you facebook, check out my profile, I have some picks up from the last few years. One of my best friends has a super clean '96 S1...kind of nice having another Bueller up there! | ||
| Rocketsprink |
I'd also look into why the breaker didn't trip. | ||
| Spank |
That confused me as well. If I remember right, on the old heater when the element went bad it tripped the breaker. It was fairly simple wiring, so I don't think I screwed anything up... | ||
| Kenm123t |
You will need a hammer and chisel to go with the stamped steel element socket HD sells. Tap the locking nut around and break the rust with the chisel tap at least 4 flats and get it to move then use the socket. That HD kit is the best way to go cheaper than buying 2 separate parts. | ||
| Ratbuell |
element could have failed one of 2 ways - dead short, which would trip the breaker...or open, which would not. that would be the same as unplugging it. i'd check it anyway...but it is possible to fail without tripping. | ||
| Rotzaruck |
If you have a continuity tester, ohm meter, or something, just test the elements. Take the wires off of it and make sure it has continuity from screw to screw. Then go from one screw to the ground (tank) and make sure it's not grounded out. It's not likely that the elements were hurt from getting wet, but the thermostats could have easily been. Unless the heater is wired for simultaneous operation, the top element has to come on first and be satisfied before the lower one comes on, so if it heats at all the top one is probably ok unless one of the two is heating on 120V if it is grounded out. that's not likely because overnight it would probably overheat. We do a lot of water heater stuff, if you don't sort it out soon give me a call 42377989332 Rotzaruck! | ||
| Spank |
I will going up this week to work on it...and to oversee work being done from a tree falling on a the house a few weeks ago. It's been a fun summer up there... Anyways, so what your saying, Rotzaruck is that if it's grounded out it will show continuity from the element to the tank? And if so it might be the element. But if that is fine it should be the theremostat(s)? Now I don't know if it's set up for simultaneous operation...I will check the book. I do know that they wanted the the top thermostat set lower than the bottom. | ||
| Rotzaruck |
It has to have continuity from screw to screw (take the wires off first). From the screw to the ground should have no continuity. elements are easy, they are good or bad. Thermostats can mess with you sometimes. If the contacts are corroded, they can not switch on at all, or they can switch on and get hot and stick and overheat the tank. If you have good voltage to the heater, the tank is not leaking or full of crud, you can fix it! All standard water heaters around here are "non simultaneous", but in some parts of the country they are wired for simultaneous. The non simultaneous ones usually have 4500 watt elements that only heat one at a time. If you replace thermostats, the top one switches the top element on first and when it gets to temperature, it switches to the bottom therm. Use a volt meter to make sure it works that way, some thermostats are wired differently. There is a constant leg of 120volt power to the element, if the filament inside is grounded to the sheath, it can heat slowly all the time, but will eventually get too hot and kick the high limit and probably open the relief valve. If you get up there and don't see the problem, holler. If this weekend is like all the others, I will be out in the killing sun, beating on one of my many projects and will be perfectly happy to stop for a minute and sit under my persimmon tree and deliver a water heater lesson. Rotzaruck! | ||
| Spank |
Thanks Rotzaruck and everyone else! I am gonna see what I can do with the thing tomorrow. I might be calling you Rotzaruck, although I hope I won't need to! P.S. Wish we had persimmon trees... |
