Dual Element Water Heater Thermostat Settings

How to set the upper and lower thermostats on dual element water heaters.

Dual element water heater thermostat settings.

Testing is the only option if you want to determine whether or not one or both of them has failed. When you turn on the faucet neither element will turn on because the cold water is going into the bottom of the tank. A dual element water heater is a two thermostat system an upper and lower that heats water in its tank one element at a time. The upper thermostat doesn t detect the cold water and the lower thermostat won t turn on until it cools from 140 degrees to 130 degrees.

Many modern homes come with dual element water heaters. If all else fails the heating element may be failing and needs to be replaced. The standard residential electric water heater control circuit consists of a manual reset high limit switch an upper thermostat lower thermostat two heating elements and wires. Whenever your elements do go or whenever you.

If you have already set the temperature and are saying to yourself i have no hot water or not enough of it there are a few factors that may be affecting the heat. If the thermostats are okay you need to test the water heater elements. Thermostat setting on dual element heater. Gas and electric water heater temperatures are set at the factory but can be adjusted for your own preferences with only a couple of tools.

If you set the top element too much higher then it will be used most of the time and the bottom element acts more as a pre heater. See testing electric water heater elements for more information. Electric water heater thermostats are a fairly simple devices that can fail from time to time. When power is initially turned on to the unit the upper element is energized and heats the water in the upper third of the tank see figure 1.

The upper thermostat takes first priority heating the water to a preset temperature before powering up the lower thermostat to heat the water to its final temperature. If the problem continues the heater likely has a defective thermostat or heating element. Having them used evenly will spread out the minimum time to replacement. Lemonplumber fl unless you draw in cold water then the lower wants to kick in just before the circ sends tempered water back to the heater from the loop during day time timer use we have moved away from thermal clips on the circ and aqua stats and are using the 1 4 hour timers.

Again you lose some time to pre heat the water. If the heater produces a small quantity of hot water check the lower thermostat and heating element. A dual element water heater uses two heating elements controlled. But i wouldn t go through too big of an effort to change the settings on an old water heater.