After 3 weeks of replacing elements & thermostats & putting in a new circuit & finally having a plumber out, we still have no hot water. Occasionally it is barely lukewarm. During this, our power went out due to car accident one night. Our well pump was off all night until my hub could prime the pump in the morning. When he did, we had hot water finally! For about 2 hours. Then back to maddeningly tepid water... again. As of yesterday, he installed a new water heater. The water is slightly warmer than tepid. And that could be wishful thinking at this point. His next plan is to rewire the circuit I believe. The plumbing co could find no explanation, said it should work & if not, get a new one. It is a GE 50 gallon electric one. Any ideas please?

If you have 220 going into the heater then the power's fine. Is there a recirculating pump tied into your system? Back to you, Tom

Hi Tom, thank you for answering so quickly. Yes we have 220.
Tom, You may be a genius! It is complicated but we have two houses on the farm & the water may run through the other house first. It has hot water. It also has a mysterious switch marked water pump that we generally avoid. But my hub checked it & thinks it was off so he switched it on. I'll let you know soon if that did the trick!

My bet's that you ,indeed have a recirculating pump tied into your system. Your set up calls for one. Let me know if it works for you. Good luck, Tom