[papawtrent]

Can someone tell me if I can by pass the control board on my electric Whirpool hot water heater. I have a new C. B. coming Tuesday, but I would like a shower before then. I have the red,black and white wires coming in and there is a blue,orange and yellow going out of the control box to the thermostat and elements.

[tkrussell]

If you bypass the control board, there will be no control for the heater elements, they will run wild, never shut off, and most likely blow opening the high pressure relief valve.

Now if you be sure to turn it off when done using the hot water, then you should get by until Tuesday.

Without knowing your model number, I think I found the wiring diagram for your heater, I found at :
Whirlpool Water Heaters - How A Water Heater Works.

Appears the CB is the thermostat control, the "thermostat wiring" you refer to are only sensors that tell the CB what the temp is and the CB does the actual switching.

So, looking at this diagram, and comparing to how standard water heaters are wired that don't have the CB you have, connect the black input to the orange, and the red input to the blue.

This will cause the bottom element to work. My thinking is if you heat the column of water from the bottom, heat will rise, and you will get most of the water heated. A plumber may know better which element will heat the water better in this temporary situation.

The CB first has the bottom element work, then switches to the top, and keeps alternating, in bypass you cannot do this unless you switch from the orange wire to the yellow wire.


Note, both elements cannot work at the same time, this will overload the circuit.

Disregard the blacks and reds to the sensors, they are useless now without the CB working.

Be sure to shut off the circuit breaker before working on this wiring, and certainly when your done with the hot water.