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changed water heater elements and still no hot water?? help??

57K views 19 replies 7 participants last post by  greg24k 
G
#1 ·
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.
 
G
#3 ·
Bjd said:
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
 
#4 ·
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
 
G
#5 ·
Hot water heater troubles...

Bjd said:
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!
 
#6 ·
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
 
#8 ·
You may have tripped the thermostat during the process. I had a similar issue recently. We were running short on hot water in the bathroom, and I first checked the setting on the bathtub faucet, found it to be at the highest level possible already, and then moved the hot water thermostat setting from 125 to 150 to attempt to get hotter water to the bathroom. When I did that, the water in the kitchen was too hot, so I turned it back down. The next morning, we had no hot water. I checked the elements, and found them to be functional, so kept probing until I saw the top thermostat had popped. I pushed it back in and 45 minutes later had hot water again. Since my water heater is 20 years old, I'll probably buy a larger one to have ample hot water in the bathroom, but am glad that I don't have to replace it today. Check your thermostat, and good luck!
 
#12 ·
#17 ·
That's because he's not registered. So likely removed as a member a long time ago but not banned.
 
#19 ·
Might have just been a default date. You set the date to that day and the forum knows to unregister the person.
 
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