Log in

View Full Version : My electric water heater it's not working, why?


dausten
Nov 13, 2011, 07:30 AM
My water heater is not working at all, I have water from the faucets, but is cold. A couple of days a go was really hot that it burned my hand a bit, and now I can get not even warm water out of the faucets, please help me, what could it be the problem?

massplumber2008
Nov 13, 2011, 07:40 AM
Hi Dausten

Do you own an electrical tester? Do you feel safe messing with the wires and power going into the water heater? If you are comfortable then let me know and I'll walk you through some tests, OK?

To start, if you go down to the water heater and take off the top access panel you will see a thermostat covered with a plastic shield. Inside the shield there will be a red reset button and most likely, it is popped off... PRESS THIS RESET BUTTON (see image) and you should hear a CLICK! The heater will now begin making hot water again!

Later, when you want to fix this (and it definitely needs to be fixed ASAP), pop back if you are comfortable testing things and we'll tell you how to test to see if you have issues at the elements or if the issue is at the thermostats. Otherwise, call a plumber in tomorrow and he'll fix it up lickety split!

Back to you...

Mark