Thermostat Trips Electric Water Heater

Has this ever happened to you.

Thermostat trips electric water heater. The heating element is the part of your water heater that heats the water. Your water heater trips the circuit breaker in your house. Water heaters have a limit switch that keeps the water from exceeding 180. The most likely cause of the limit switch tripping is a bad thermostat.

A diy plumbing water. Diagram of electric water heater. Then after a few. A red button located on the water heater itself just above the thermostat that trips when the water temperature exceeds 180 f the reset button is sometimes referred to as the eco emergency cut off or high limit switch.

Electric water heater red reset button tripping troubleshooting guide about the author based in colorado springs colo jerry walch has been writing articles for the diy market since 1974. When a water heater starts tripping the eco repeatedly it s time to call a plumber for service. Usually when the upper thermostat goes bad you will have no hot water at all while a bad lower thermostat makes itself known when there is only a small amount of hot water before the tap water goes cold. Burnt out heating element.

And once the water has. One on top and one on the bottom. So you go and reset the circuit breaker. This helps protect you from getting burned or scalded by the excessively hot water.

First off your electric water heater can actually trip 2 different safety features. There is an upper and lower thermostat element pairing as seen in the diagram below. When the water reaches 180 the limit switch a little red reset button on the water heater trips. Electric water heaters have a lower and upper thermostat one for each heating element.

An electric hot water heater has two thermostats controlling two separate heating elements one in the upper half of the tank one in the lower half. Electric water heaters have 2 thermostats and 2 heating elements. When the water has cooled off the thermostats kick on the heating elements to heat the water. How to easily repair fix troubleshoot an electric water heater that trips the circuit breaker or blows fuses little or no hot water.

How a bad thermostat causes your water heater reset button to trip. Okay with that out of the way let s look at the possible problems that are causing your electric water heater to trip your breaker. Most electric water heaters have 2 heating elements.