Thermostat Trips Electric Water Heater

A diy plumbing water.

Thermostat trips electric water heater.

Water heaters have a limit switch that keeps the water from exceeding 180. Electric water heaters have a lower and upper thermostat one for each heating element. The thermostats are responsible for controlling the heating elements. This helps protect you from getting burned or scalded by the excessively hot water.

We highly recommend hiring a licensed plumber take care of any repairs on your water heater. 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. Diagram of electric water heater. The heating element is the part of your water heater that heats the water.

When the water reaches 180 the limit switch a little red reset button on the water heater trips. First off your electric water heater can actually trip 2 different safety features. When a water heater starts tripping the eco repeatedly it s time to call a plumber for service. And once the water has.

There is an upper and lower thermostat element pairing as seen in the diagram below. The most likely cause of the limit switch tripping is a bad thermostat. Burnt out heating element. 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.

When the water has cooled off the thermostats kick on the heating elements to heat the water. One on top and one on the bottom. 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. Then after a few.

How a bad thermostat causes your water heater reset button to trip. Most electric water heaters have 2 heating elements. So you go and reset the circuit breaker. There s a good chance that the water in the tank is dangerously hot and since the problem is usually caused by a failed component it won t get better until the bad part is identified and replaced.

Has this ever happened to you. Your water heater trips the circuit breaker in your house. 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.