My NEW water heater is not producing hot water. The top of the tank is slightly warm and the bottom of tank is cold. Checked voltage on the thermostat and upper had voltage, lower did not. Changed the lower thermostat. No change. What is the problem? Was told maybe there wasn't a dip tube in tank when I purchased it? Don't Know??

Turn off heater. Drain tank. Fill Tank. Turn on heater.

Bottom element should turn on. Wait for bottom element to turn off.

Open a hot water tap. Water should be hot. Upper element should turn on at some point. You should have hot water.

A dip tube is a white plastic tube that is located just below the cold water inlet on top of the heater. It directs the cold water to the bottom where it's heated by the lower element until it raises to the top where temperature's maintained be the upper element. When a dip tube goes bad you will find small white partials in the aerators on a spout. Or it may clog the ports on a cartridge so the flow of hot water slows down. To change it out you will need soldering tools and skills, you will have to cut the copper pipe and remove the male adapter plus soldering a coupling to join the pipes you have cut. To replace it, ask for the same size as your heater, Thanks.

John

If I remember correctly you just bought this heater yesterday, right? Did you install it yourself or have a plumber? DIYers sometimes solder to close to the tanks top fittings and melt the dip tube allowing it to fall into the tank. Is this a possibility in your situation?

Yes, we purchased this heater yesterday. We had a friend help us with installing the heater. We purchased all new fittings and elbows for the heater. We did not have to solder to any of the tanks top fittings, so the soldering too close to the fittings is not our situation. I'm thinking that the dip tube came loose during delivery or installation, but I do not know how to replace the dip tube or check to see if it's there. Please Help!

Open the link below will walk you through step by step how to remove and replace a dip tube, but I would suggest to contact the store that you bought the heater from and find out if the heater came with a dip tube, Good Luck.

John


How to Repair a Broken Dip Tube (http://www.ronhazelton.com/tips/repair_broken_dip_tube.htm)

Thank You! I will try that and we will see what happens.

Only one thermostat operates at a time. When the water is all cold, the bottom one will be on. As water is drained from the heater, the top one will switch on.

The electric heaters I have installed work one element at a time, on start-up the top element heats until the thermostat is satisfied and as it switches off that puts power to the bottom thermostat and since it is a start-up the bottom of the tank is not yet hot so the bottom thermostat calls for heat and turns on the bottom element. When the bottom thermostat is satisfied it turns off the bottom element. Now as you use water the bottom thermostat will call for heat again, and the bottom element is energized. If enough hot water is used to cool off the top thermostat the top thermostat will call for heat and turn off the power going to the bottom thermostat.

Thank you guys for giving me pointers and tips on this situation, but we came to the conclusion that we may have purchased a defective water heater, so we are just going to return it and get another one and hope for the best. Thank You!

Yep I agree with you and I aske you in post #6 to contact the store that you purchase he heater, you are doing the rght thing, good luck.

John