Test Water Heater Element Thermostat

The upper thermostat controls both the upper and lower element.

Test water heater element thermostat.

You can find this information on the data tag on the side of the water heater. If you want to test a thermostat on an electric water heater you will also need to check the heating element. This is when the upper thermostat has a problem. You can find the voltage written on the end of the heating element.

When it goes bad you don t have any hot water at all. If the water is hot enough at appointed temperature the meter won t show reading. Test the water heater thermostat testing the water heater thermostat involves the checking of the heating element also. Pull away any insulation that is.

Common residential dual element water heaters are 240 volts. If the opposite thing happens that means your thermostat has defected. To look for faults you will need to use a screwdriver. 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. Before you proceed further with the process of testing the heater thermostat take a screwdriver and the multimeter. 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.

The access panels are on the side of. You will also need to check the water heater thermostat with digital multimeter tools. In this case also check the current at the high limit switch. This article deals with thermostats on electric water heaters.

To look at the faults in the upper thermostat you need to turn off the lower one. If the water is cold the multimeter will point near zero. Both thermostats control two different heating elements for the heater to function. Now sometimes you use the hot water tap to only discover cold water coming out.

When shopping for a water heater thermostat you need to know how many elements the water heater has and the voltage. If the data tag is missing you can identify single element vs dual element by the number of access panels on the water heater. Testing water heater thermostats is important in locating water heater problems. Connect the multimeter pin ends on point 1 2 as shown in the picture below.