Water heater troubleshooting often involves resetting the high-temperature limit switch of your upper thermostat system. Doing this is as easy as turning off all circuit breakers associated with your water heater, taking off its cover, and pressing its reset button – three simple steps for success!
This process also presents an excellent opportunity to check for continuity by testing with a multimeter so you reduce the chances of having water in your basement. More information about the topic can always be obtained online at Cinch Home Services water heater help.
No Hot Water
Lack of hot water can be an inconvenience and often seems out of nowhere, but there could be multiple causes and solutions available that are easy to address.
If your electric water heater has recently experienced issues, the first thing to check is whether its circuit breaker has tripped. Resetting this can easily be done in your home’s breaker box.
If this doesn’t resolve the problem, it could be that either your thermostat or heating elements are defective. To test this hypothesis, disconnect power to the unit, take steps to access panel, remove insulation and plastic covers as necessary, then pull up upper panel. Use an ohmmeter to test for voltage between upper thermostat screws and metal element and upper thermostat screws on upper thermostat – if there’s none detected replace element professionally as soon as possible
Not Enough Hot Water
If your water heater is failing to produce sufficient hot water, it could be caused by any number of issues. If it is an electric model, its circuit breakers could have been tripped or an element is no longer functioning as designed; or perhaps its thermostat or high temperature limit switch has failed altogether.
If the issue involves gas units, relighting of the pilot light may be required or else there could be leakage that needs to be reported to your gas provider.
First, ensure the breaker or fuse marked “water heater” is off (or removed), along with all power switches for it. Next, carefully unbolt and unwrap the plastic cover, insulation and access panel from your water heater so you can gain access to its thermostats and high temperature limit switches. With both thermostats off, touch terminal 4 of both thermostats using your meter leads; should see approximately 13 Ohms resistance readings on both leads of your meter.
Water That Is Cold
If your hot water tap does not provide any hot water at all, this could be a telltale sign that its power has gone out. Check your circuit breaker/fuse box first to make sure that it has not tripped or blown; if not reset it. Secondly, inspect heating elements/thermostats to make sure they’re still operational before proceeding further with diagnostic tests.
Remove the access panel on top of your water heater and identify which wires connect to its upper thermostat. Use an ohmmeter to test these, touching one probe of it to each terminal on the upper thermostat while touching another probe to the lower thermostat’s end of thermocouple tube – if readings are high you may need to replace either thermostat/thermocouple tube before testing lower thermostat and element again with same method.
Water That Is Too Hot
Sometimes your water heater can become dangerously hot. This poses a real danger if there are young children or elderly residents living in your home – small children could quickly be burned by an overheated water supply, while elderly persons could quickly be burned or scalded due to faulty heating elements, thermostats or temperature & pressure relief valves (T&PRVs).
Initial steps should include verifying the current setting on your upper heating system thermostat to make sure it doesn’t exceed 120-140 degrees Fahrenheit, in ideal circumstances.
Resetting the high-temperature limit switch requires switching off all house circuit breakers, taking off the upper thermostat cover, and pressing the red button on the high-temperature limit switch – which acts as a safety mechanism against overheating of water heaters. You can test continuity on terminals 1& 2 of upper thermostat wiring diagram by touching one probe against each wire – they should both show zero ohms of resistance.
