Test Water Heater Element Thermostat

Remove the upper and the lower access panels with a phillips screwdriver.

Test water heater element thermostat.

Both thermostats control two different heating elements for the heater to function. If you want to test a thermostat on an electric water heater you will also need to check the heating element. When shopping for a water heater thermostat you need to know how many elements the water heater has and the voltage. The upper thermostat controls both the upper and lower element.

This is important especially as open and grounded heating elements result in inaccurate tests. Now sometimes you use the hot water tap to only discover cold water coming out. You can find this information on the data tag on the side of the water heater. If the water is hot enough at appointed temperature the meter won t show reading.

Start by checking the thermostat terminals for the supply of power. You can find the voltage written on the end of the heating element. Test the water heater thermostat testing the water heater thermostat involves the checking of the heating element also. When it goes bad you don t have any hot water at all.

In this case also check the current at the high limit switch. You will also need to check the water heater thermostat with digital multimeter tools. If the opposite thing happens that means your thermostat has defected. The access panels are on the side of.

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. Check the power supply of the thermostat. To look at the faults in the upper thermostat you need to turn off the lower one. Before you proceed further with the process of testing the heater thermostat take a screwdriver and the multimeter.

Turn the water heater circuit breaker off inside the main service panel. This is when the upper thermostat has a problem. 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.

If the water is cold the multimeter will point near zero. If the data tag is missing you can identify single element vs dual element by the number of access panels on the water heater. Pull away any insulation that is. Common residential dual element water heaters are 240 volts.