Water heater element control

[WbSearch]

By mistake I turned the power on to my water heater before the tank was full of
water and burned the upper element. I thought the lower element would provide
heat, but obviously at a lower rate. I found no power at the element. It
appears from the limited wiring diagram I have, that the upper thermostat
switch provides power to the upper element until it reaches the set
temperature, then provides power to the lower thermostat and element. Is that
correct? I needed to wire the lower thermostat to the upper element to get
heat last night until stores opened today and I could get a replacement.
I thought both elements were powered at once, but appears that is not the case.
The heater has what the supplier calls typical 2 element wiring.
My questions are 1) are indeed the elements powered as I described or am I
missing something?, and 2) is there a suggested temp. setting for the elements
if that is true, i.e. should the lower element be set at a higher temp then the
upper?
Thanks in advance.

 

[Sam Goldwasser]

The wiring is as you describe. Go to Home Depot and get a replacement
element for $10.

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[James Sweet]

By mistake I turned the power on to my water heater before the tank was full of
water and burned the upper element. I thought the lower element would provide
heat, but obviously at a lower rate. I found no power at the element. It
appears from the limited wiring diagram I have, that the upper thermostat
switch provides power to the upper element until it reaches the set
temperature, then provides power to the lower thermostat and element. Is that
correct? I needed to wire the lower thermostat to the upper element to get
heat last night until stores opened today and I could get a replacement.
I thought both elements were powered at once, but appears that is not the case.
The heater has what the supplier calls typical 2 element wiring.
My questions are 1) are indeed the elements powered as I described or am I
missing something?, and 2) is there a suggested temp. setting for the elements
if that is true, i.e. should the lower element be set at a higher temp then the
upper?
Thanks in advance.

Why don't you just buy a new element? They're not very expensive at all.

 

[Allodoxaphobia]

full


Why don't you just buy a new element? They're not very expensive at all.

I'm sure the OP was going to. He was relating his experience in trying
to jerry-rig the thing for overnight, at least, so that he could have
_some_ hot water until such time as he tore it all down. He was just
trying to make sense of what he encountered.

Jonesy

 

[[email protected]]

By mistake I turned the power on to my water heater before the tank was full of
water and burned the upper element. I thought the lower element would provide
heat, but obviously at a lower rate. I found no power at the element. It
appears from the limited wiring diagram I have, that the upper thermostat
switch provides power to the upper element until it reaches the set
temperature, then provides power to the lower thermostat and element. Is that
correct? I needed to wire the lower thermostat to the upper element to get
heat last night until stores opened today and I could get a replacement.
I thought both elements were powered at once, but appears that is not the case.
The heater has what the supplier calls typical 2 element wiring.
My questions are 1) are indeed the elements powered as I described or am I
missing something?, and 2) is there a suggested temp. setting for the elements
if that is true, i.e. should the lower element be set at a higher temp then the
upper?
Thanks in advance.

The wiring is correct and the temp settings should be the same. The
idea is that you want to heat the water at the top near the outlet
first. This arrangement works better than having each element carry
half the load. Some HW heaters will run both at the same time.

-Chris

 

[WbSearch]

Thank you very much for the answer. I just retruned from a trip that took 37
hours of flight time and didn't feel up to a total repair that night. I always
intended to replace the element, but was trying to figure out if I needed
anything else. The curious thing is when I replaced the upper element and
returned the wiring to the original configuration, the lower element did get
powered. So I'm still a little confused by the wiring diagram as I don't see
how the lower element would only get powered if the upper elemnet is OK. The
bottom line is I jury rigged it for us to get showers that night, replaced the
element the next day and all is well.
One question, why did some people assume I was trying to be cheap and not
replace the element when all I was trying to do was get an explanation of my
observation that confused me?

 

[James Sweet]

Thank you very much for the answer. I just retruned from a trip that took 37
hours of flight time and didn't feel up to a total repair that night. I always
intended to replace the element, but was trying to figure out if I needed
anything else. The curious thing is when I replaced the upper element and
returned the wiring to the original configuration, the lower element did get
powered. So I'm still a little confused by the wiring diagram as I don't see
how the lower element would only get powered if the upper elemnet is OK. The
bottom line is I jury rigged it for us to get showers that night, replaced the
element the next day and all is well.
One question, why did some people assume I was trying to be cheap and not
replace the element when all I was trying to do was get an explanation of my
observation that confused me?

The lower element won't get power if the upper element is dead because the
upper water will never get warm enough to trip the thermostat to turn off
the upper element and turn on the lower one.

People assume that people are trying to be cheap because quite a lot of
those who post here are. You wouldn't believe some of the stuff that gets
asked.