Had no hot water yesterday. Hubbys friend replaced the heating element but still did not work. Then they decided to buy a 2 yr old used one which they installed, still no hot water. Then they went and found out that the panel box circuitbreaker for the heater was burned so replaced breaker, still no hot water. They checked thermostat, dip tube, etc. What else should we check and how to obtain hot water???? Thanks Rob and Liz in PA:o

Your friend is using the hit or miss method, you need to do some diagnostics first. Lets start with that breaker, what did they install and have they/you verified that 240 is reaching the heater?

Hi all:

My bet here is that the friend doesn't know how to test for 220-240V or he would have by now..?

Like Ballengerb1 said... need to start at the basics. First need to confirm that each leg of the 30 amp double pole breaker is sending 110-120V to the heater. If both legs have 110-120V (gives the 220-240V total) then you move to the heater junction box (top of heater) and confirm 220-240V there. Once power is confirmed at the junction box, you will want to test for power at the top element ONLY as power will not be sent to the bottom thermostat/element until the top thermostat/element is satisfied... O.K.?

If no power to the top element after confirming power into the heater then the top thermostat is bad.

Pop back and let us know what you discover...

MARK

Both Bob and Mark have stated very well, I will also add the following link just for info, good Luck.

John

How to Test a Water Heater Thermostat - wikiHow

Some heaters have a reset button on the thermostat, just in case you don't find the problem elsewhere.

I will add:

When testing for the 240 volts, make sure to test between the two hot wires. (one lead on one hot wire, the other lead on the other hot wires.

Testing each wire to ground will give a false reading as voltage will read through the element giving the appearance of 120 volts on both sides to ground even if one side of the 240 has dropped out.