Test Water Heater Element Thermostat

Both thermostats control two different heating elements for the heater to function.

Test water heater element thermostat.

Test the water heater thermostat testing the water heater thermostat involves the checking of the heating element also. How to test an electric hot water heater thermostat step 1. If you want to test a thermostat on an electric water heater you will also need to check the heating element. If the data tag is missing you can identify single element vs dual element by the number of access panels on the water heater.

Remove the upper and the lower access panels with a phillips screwdriver. Check the power supply of the thermostat. This is important especially as open and grounded heating elements result in inaccurate tests. 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. If the water is hot enough at appointed temperature the meter won t show reading. To look at the faults in the upper thermostat you need to turn off the lower one.

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. You can find the voltage written on the end of the heating element. When shopping for a water heater thermostat you need to know how many elements the water heater has and the voltage. Now sometimes you use the hot water tap to only discover cold water coming out.

The access panels are on the side of. To look for faults you will need to use a screwdriver. If the opposite thing happens that means your thermostat has defected. This is when the upper thermostat has a problem.

Connect the multimeter pin ends on point 1 2 as shown in the picture below. Before you proceed further with the process of testing the heater thermostat take a screwdriver and the multimeter. If the water is cold the multimeter will point near zero. 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. Turn the water heater circuit breaker off inside the main service panel. Pull away any insulation that is. Start by checking the thermostat terminals for the supply of power.