The standard residential electric water heater control circuit consists of a manual reset high limit switch an upper thermostat lower thermostat two heating elements and wires.
Dual element water heater thermostat settings.
If the heater produces a small quantity of hot water check the lower thermostat and heating element.
If you have already set the temperature and are saying to yourself i have no hot water or not enough of it there are a few factors that may be affecting the heat.
Again you lose some time to pre heat the water.
Whenever your elements do go or whenever you.
A dual element water heater uses two heating elements controlled.
If the thermostats are okay you need to test the water heater elements.
If all else fails the heating element may be failing and needs to be replaced.
Gas and electric water heater temperatures are set at the factory but can be adjusted for your own preferences with only a couple of tools.
The upper thermostat doesn t detect the cold water and the lower thermostat won t turn on until it cools from 140 degrees to 130 degrees.
A rheem water heater leaves the factory with the temperature preset at 120 degrees fahrenheit but you can adjust the temperature on the thermostat anywhere from 90 degrees fahrenheit up to 150.
Electric water heater thermostats are a fairly simple devices that can fail from time to time.
Thermostat setting on dual element heater.
Press the button then wait about 10 minutes for the water to warm.
Many modern homes come with dual element water heaters.
See testing electric water heater elements for more information.
Lemonplumber fl unless you draw in cold water then the lower wants to kick in just before the circ sends tempered water back to the heater from the loop during day time timer use we have moved away from thermal clips on the circ and aqua stats and are using the 1 4 hour timers.
When power is initially turned on to the unit the upper element is energized and heats the water in the upper third of the tank see figure 1.
If the problem continues the heater likely has a defective thermostat or heating element.
But i wouldn t go through too big of an effort to change the settings on an old water heater.
Having them used evenly will spread out the minimum time to replacement.
The upper thermostat takes first priority heating the water to a preset temperature before powering up the lower thermostat to heat the water to its final temperature.
Testing is the only option if you want to determine whether or not one or both of them has failed.
If you set the top element too much higher then it will be used most of the time and the bottom element acts more as a pre heater.
How to set the upper and lower thermostats on dual element water heaters.
