changed water heater elements and still no hot water?? help?? - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

12-19-2003, 10:33 PM

my water heater stopped working I checked and it had power and was full of water so i went to lowes and they told me to replace my thermostats and elements. I replaced all parts being careful to put all wires connected back the way they were I reset the thermostat and still i have no hot water or even warm. I have checked the voltage and i am getting at least 220 volts to all my componets...any suggestions????
my water heater is a A.O>Smith EES 40 I replaced my elements with 4500 ones.

Bjd · 12-20-2003, 05:11 AM

Not sure but double check you wireing, sounds to me like you may have a mix up in the thermostats try the upper first, and work your way down.
Were the old elements bad? The old thermostat did it trip out?
Is your system Off Peek type?
Bernie

12-20-2003, 11:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bjd

Not sure but double check you wireing, sounds to me like you may have a mix up in the thermostats try the upper first, and work your way down.
Were the old elements bad? The old thermostat did it trip out?
Is your system Off Peek type?
Bernie

hi, I have double checked everything....the previous thermostat didnt trip either the water heater just stopped working but had full power....
Quiestion??? i checked for continuity on elements and readings were 0 is that what they are suppost to be if its all turned off? The help page at Ao Smith said it should be 12-18 but im not sure if i had the right heater they was talking about...you can email me you ansure if you like to Kaluluna2u@netzero.com thanks....Jeannie

Bjd · 12-21-2003, 06:14 AM

Did you disconnect the wires to the elements before you checked them? Sounds more like a thermostat problem, but yes the elements should zero out.
The heaters are by design to heat the upper element first, so check to be sure that there is 240 there, after the upper portion is up too temp then they switch to the lower element to complete the heating cycle.
If you are not getting 240 at the upper element then there would apper to be a problem with the thermostat.
Or you may have wired the thermostat wrong, some time in the past this has happen to me.
Bernie

12-30-2003, 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bjd

Did you disconnect the wires to the elements before you checked them? Sounds more like a thermostat problem, but yes the elements should zero out.
The heaters are by design to heat the upper element first, so check to be sure that there is 240 there, after the upper portion is up too temp then they switch to the lower element to complete the heating cycle.
If you are not getting 240 at the upper element then there would apper to be a problem with the thermostat.
Or you may have wired the thermostat wrong, some time in the past this has happen to me.
Bernie

My fiance' and I live in an apartment complex and have maintenance guys who do the repairs here. We realized we were without hot water on Sunday and the landlady just got the guys from maintenance to come and fix it today. They said an element needed replaced and the replaced it. How long should it take for the water to heat up? Will it happen instantly or does it take a couple of hours? It has been about half an hour to forty five minutes since they replaced the element and the water is room temperature at best - the way it has been since Sunday. I no absolutely nothing about hot water heaters, so please pardon my ignorance. I just have a sink full of dirty dishes!

Thanks!

Bjd · 12-31-2003, 06:00 AM

Depending on the size of the heater nad the elements the unit should take about 2-3 hours to come to a complete cycle.

The guys who fixed it may have set the temps too low for you, ask them what they set them for.

We have to by law set ours at 120.F which to me is not hot water they may have done the same.

If thats the case you may have to adjust the thermostat yourself.

Bernie