An electric water heater has one or two thermostats, depending on the gallon size of the tank. The thermostats regulate the temperature of the water by turning off and on the heating elements.

If the water coming from your faucet is too hot and turning down the setting on the water heater thermostat has no effect, the problem is very likely a malfunctioning thermostat on your water heater. The thermostat is allowing the heating element or burner to remain on too long, heating the water beyond what is safe or comfortable.

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Electric water heaters have one or two elements, and each is controlled by a thermostat. If the hot water heater is not working, one of the thermostats may be bad. You can test them with the power off using an ohmmeter to measure resistance or with the power on using a voltmeter to measure voltage.

Replacing the wrong thermostat may still leave you without hot water or not enough hot water. Electric Water Heater Thermostats - Safety Issues. Before you test or work on electric water heater thermostats or the water heater in general, you want to make sure that you have shut off the power to the water heater.

Troubleshooting the Thermostat on a Hot Water Heater November 4th, 2016 Depending on the gallon size of the tank, an electric water heater consists of one or two thermostats which regulate the temperature of the water.

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Gas Water Heater Thermostat Replacement. Gas water heaters use a different type of thermostat system. On most gas water heaters, the gas control valve, which includes both a thermostat and a heat limiting device, are located on the outside of the unit, near the bottom.

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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. 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.

However they do go bad and testing water heater thermostats is still required. Your water heater usually has two elements and two thermostats. The upper thermostat has two functions. First it allows the upper element to heat the water in the top of the tank. When this water is hot enough it shuts the upper element off.