Test Water Heater Element Thermostat

Pull away any insulation that is.

Test water heater element thermostat.

Check the power supply of the thermostat. Testing water heater thermostats is important in locating water heater problems. The upper thermostat controls both the upper and lower element. You can find this information on the data tag on the side of the water heater.

This article deals with thermostats on electric water heaters. Common residential dual element water heaters are 240 volts. In this case also check the current at the high limit switch. When it goes bad you don t have any hot water at all.

This is when the upper thermostat has a problem. Now sometimes you use the hot water tap to only discover cold water coming out. To look for faults you will need to use a screwdriver. Connect the multimeter pin ends on point 1 2 as shown in the picture below.

Test the water heater thermostat testing the water heater thermostat involves the checking of the heating element also. Remove the upper and the lower access panels with a phillips screwdriver. How to test an electric hot water heater thermostat step 1. When shopping for a water heater thermostat you need to know how many elements the water heater has and the voltage.

Turn the water heater circuit breaker off inside the main service panel. If the opposite thing happens that means your thermostat has defected. To look at the faults in the upper thermostat you need to turn off the lower one. This is important especially as open and grounded heating elements result in inaccurate tests.

The access panels are on the side of. If the water is hot enough at appointed temperature the meter won t show reading. If you get the reading of 240v on terminal 1 and terminal 3 then the power is on but if you get no readings then the power is off. If the water is cold the multimeter will point near zero.

If you want to test a thermostat on an electric water heater you will also need to check the heating element. You can find the voltage written on the end of the heating element. Start by checking the thermostat terminals for the supply of power. Both thermostats control two different heating elements for the heater to function.