Water Heater Not Heating? Thermostat Testing Step By Step

Water Heater Not Heating? Testing The Thermostats Step By Step

Water heater not heating? This video shows how to test the thermostats on a water heater. The thermostats or elements are commonly replaced on a water heater that's not heating. The thermostats control the water temperature by turning on the heating elements and maintaining the set temperature. A bad thermostat can cause the water temperature to get to high and trip the reset button which then causes no hot water throughout the home. After shutting off the power to the water heater these tests can be preformed with a multimeter. POWER must be off!

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[TheSlimCognito]

Great video and explanation of how to troubleshoot them. It's really helpful for people like me who just got into the field.

[phillipgroom]

Good job as always. Great explanation of trouble shooting the unit. Thanks for sharing! Stay safe out there!

[lancebuchel]

This is a great step by step trouble shooting guide. It helped me find the issue with my water heater.

[ralzam]

Hey man! I was double guessing my self. I just could not figure it out intel I seen you video. Hi temp thermostat and replace top & bottom. I had the same issue. Thank You very much. You were on point on everything. Thanks like how you explain & show how you are doing things. 👍👏🏼👍🙏

[stevelong]

Excellent job explaining, video quality, and step by step troubleshooting.

[ravikhan]

Very informative video... as you probably know already, my heater is acting up atm...

[neomacchio]

Thanks for the video I’ve got a bad thermostat! Thanks to you I diagnosed why my water wasn’t getting hot enough!

How do I know which replacement ones to get??

[pixeandbluerose]

That was pretty cool it was very easy to understand

[ConorRyan-fp]

Awesome video. Recently had a call out for a similar issue and I've only ever replaced tanks entirely. Might be worth noting 120F is a perfect nesting environment for legionella. We learned to never set it to 120 for electric tanks and the setting should be removed entirely for peoples safety. I believe its fine with gas appliances to set them to 120F

[cheezer]

best video I could find and I looked hard.

[espnocho]

Great video every thing tested good on my water heater. elements thermostats no popped reset button no lose or broken wires and no popped Circuit breaker but still no hot water. it does have grey box timer on it that I manually turn on but nothing. would you know anything else that could be wrong with it .

[FORTRANever]

The hardest part of this job for me was the learning curve in testing and replacement of the thermostats and the heating coils. The most time-consuming part was waiting for the water heater to empty. The most contentious moments were to disengage locking mechanisms before removing the thermostats (that is, being careful not to distort the locking mechanisms).

Actually, I bought the generic "tuneup kit" from Lowes for about $35 which includes the two heating coils and both thermostats. After replacing the coils and still experiencing the problem, I took a deep dive stated in this and other videos and focused on malfunctioning thermostats and properly diagnosing heating coils issues.

Behore, replacing the thermostats, , I used adhesive backed, 1/4 IN color dots on the wires sheathing and close on the thermostat wiring terminals so I could identify where to connect the wires on the new thermostats. I also took a picture of the thermostat.

One unique that I encounteredv was that the black wired that travels from the lower thermostat could not reach the terminal on the new upper thermostat because the upper OEM (old) thermostat was positioned lower than the generic (new) thermostat. So I had to extend that wire so it could reach the new upper terminal al. Anyone else encounter this problem?

[Nezuchan]

I have a similar issue the things is no matter the temperature there is no hot water weve called maintenance to come and fix it and we get like room temperature water which is no where close to hot water. And i did this as well to see if it would fix the problem and still no hot water? Is it just broken??

[BUDS]

Great video, thank you. I just ordered the tools and supplies to do the same check. I have some hot water and I can hear the top element working but not the bottom after my Main Circuit breaker tripped. The top thermostat breaker did not trip. I called a plumber and he didn’t do any tests. He just said it was internal wiring and I would need a new water heater. Does that sound right? Unit is 9 years old. I plan on flushing and testing as you described. Thank you sir.

[bgregg]

Good advice to always just replace both stats. They do wear out.

[chandlertaylor]

So I tested my top thermostat and the left side has continuity and beeps but the right side screws stay at 1 and it doesn’t beep does that mean anything?

[bluevnom]

I am having a hard time understanding why the bottom one is set higher than the top one, when the top one turns on first and usually heats up 75% of your tank before going to your bottom.
I just replaced both top and bottom elements. The continuity on both showed strong numbers, but the seals on them were leaking. So i decided just to replace them with new elements.
It worked for 3 days and now it tripped the circuit again.
When you did your continuity/resistance, it still showed the thermostat to have continuity, but yet you still replaced them.
What is the point of even testing them then?
Mine is a 2016, I should just replace the thermostats while I am at it huh? I drained the unit and cleaned it out.
My testing meter is different than yours. It's the red one./
Can you explain in detail steps what you are suppose to do to test the thermostats? I think im stilll lost.
First is a safety test.. check the power by turn my meter on AC to make sure no power is coming in after I turned breaks off
Second is to check continuity of elements
Third is to check the terminals on the thermostat, which is where I am super confused about.

[CS]

What do you do if yube replaced both tstats and elements but still dont get power going to either element but i have 240 going into the top 2 screws and have continuity on everything

[popeyesfriedchicken]

I tried to conduct the continuity test on both the upper and lower thermostats but didn't get anything from either of them. But my electric water heater still works after resetting once a day. Is that possible or improbable?

[roblincoln]

My reset button has not tripped. Element checked out good (resistance high by like 5 ohms), No hot water, single element water heater. Must be thermostat correct? I get resistance between leads of thermostat as well so it seems good but hasn't tripped. Any other way to test thermostat?