Electric water heater thermostat problem?

Question

HI I have a 40 galon electric water heater, which was not heating up properly... the only element it had was replaced for a new one, I am just wondering if I try reseting the thermostat and push the little red botton (shoud I have have the power on for this)? and should the thermostat be set to hot "C" because right now is on "B" and I still dont get hot water..just warm...I live on a small apartment and we used to have hot water just fine, the water heater is only 3 years old.

Answer 1

You can reset either way.With power on or off.If you reset with power on just be careful.Set the temp to a setting that is right for you.I'm surprised it does not have a degree temp that you set..ie 125 130 etc.

Answer 2

My Sister had the same problem, the man who installed it, said, she couldn't control the water temp. Some idiot he was. Anyway, hers had variable settings, like most do. So I read the manual, yup, sometimes, we men have to do that. But I knew the heat could be controlled.

It took a couple of times, to set it to what she needed, but it's a simple task, even in her tight space.

Just a couple of screws to release the cover plate, adjust the setting higher, then replace the cover plate.

Set it to the C setting, and see if that does the job for you. Read the instruction manual too, for  more information.

Answer 3

almost all water heaters have an upper and lower thermostat and element . if thsi is an bradford white water heater ,thermostate problems are very common . I would exchange the thermostat out with new ones , they recognised the problem and make replacement ones . as for the setting start with it in the middle and adjust up and down for your liking .always turn the electric off  before removing the covers as you can get one heck of a shock , it is 240 volts after all .also  another common problem was with the dip tubes in water heaters failing  , this will give you tempered water no matter what you do with T-stats and elements . They have actually had a recall on dip tubes in the recent past .

Answer 4

If the red button is tripping there is a short and yes you push it with the power on.  all 40 gal elec WH I've ever seen have two elements one low and one high,double check this because the other element would make a big difference.The setting is usually somewhere between B&C but if it's worked before on B then you have a different problem and messing with the setting will do little to help.Thermostats rarely go out or get out of adjustment within 3 yrs. Hope this helps