I'm new to this forum, so I hope this is the right place for water heater questions. I saw other water heater stuff, so I think I'm in the right place!
We noticed last week that our water in the upstairs shower was not quite as hot as usual. We have a single handle faucet in the shower, and it took pushing it further to the hot side to get full temperature. And even then, it "felt" less hot. Also, the hot water we did have wasn't lasting as long as usual, and the overall hot water pressure in the faucet seems lower than usual, and definitely lower than the cold water pressure. Also, the hot water seems to take longer to "kick in" than it should.
After some research, it seemed like it was likely the water heater. So I went out and bought a good multimeter that could test ohms and everything else, and I followed instructions online to test the various water heater elements.
Both heating elements registered between 12-13 ohms of resistance, so it seems they are alright. Touching one probe to a screw and another to the tank or bare metal produced zero reading, so from what I read online(assuming the articles were true), nothing is shorted out and the heating elements are fine.
I tested the volts coming into the water heater. 240 volts, no problem. Then I tested the volts coming into the top heating element. It registered as virtually nothing. So that led me to believe that the upper thermostat is bad. When turning the temperature dial, I couldn't hear it kick in either. So I went and got a new upper thermostat and replaced it.
The problem is still there. I did lower the temp on the thermostat to 120 since both were running at 135 and our water definitely used to get too hot. But the low pressure in the shower, along with less time of hot water, nothing was fixed.
So before I move forward, replacing different pieces, I wanted to ask what to do next. I was going to flush out the water heater, but our hose nozel got bent. So I need to get a new one and try to flush it out since we haven't done that in the three years we have lived in the house(I didn't know to, but I'm learning now!).
Could it be that flushing out the unit will fix the problem? Could it just be THAT dirty? The low pressure kind of tells me that it might be clogged somewhere. Am I right?
Also, our valve that is attached to one of the two pipes going into the top of the unit, seems to turn backwards than I would usually assume? The whole time we have had our house, i haven't touched it, and it is turned "all the way to the right". Normally, this would make me assume it's CLOSED, and turning it to the left is my only option. But we've never had a problem. Does this sound right?
Sorry for the long post and lots of questions. I want to attack the rest of this methodically and not do too much extra work since time is limited.
I GREATLY appreciate any help that is given. Thanks!
Brent
We noticed last week that our water in the upstairs shower was not quite as hot as usual. We have a single handle faucet in the shower, and it took pushing it further to the hot side to get full temperature. And even then, it "felt" less hot. Also, the hot water we did have wasn't lasting as long as usual, and the overall hot water pressure in the faucet seems lower than usual, and definitely lower than the cold water pressure. Also, the hot water seems to take longer to "kick in" than it should.
After some research, it seemed like it was likely the water heater. So I went out and bought a good multimeter that could test ohms and everything else, and I followed instructions online to test the various water heater elements.
Both heating elements registered between 12-13 ohms of resistance, so it seems they are alright. Touching one probe to a screw and another to the tank or bare metal produced zero reading, so from what I read online(assuming the articles were true), nothing is shorted out and the heating elements are fine.
I tested the volts coming into the water heater. 240 volts, no problem. Then I tested the volts coming into the top heating element. It registered as virtually nothing. So that led me to believe that the upper thermostat is bad. When turning the temperature dial, I couldn't hear it kick in either. So I went and got a new upper thermostat and replaced it.
The problem is still there. I did lower the temp on the thermostat to 120 since both were running at 135 and our water definitely used to get too hot. But the low pressure in the shower, along with less time of hot water, nothing was fixed.
So before I move forward, replacing different pieces, I wanted to ask what to do next. I was going to flush out the water heater, but our hose nozel got bent. So I need to get a new one and try to flush it out since we haven't done that in the three years we have lived in the house(I didn't know to, but I'm learning now!).
Could it be that flushing out the unit will fix the problem? Could it just be THAT dirty? The low pressure kind of tells me that it might be clogged somewhere. Am I right?
Also, our valve that is attached to one of the two pipes going into the top of the unit, seems to turn backwards than I would usually assume? The whole time we have had our house, i haven't touched it, and it is turned "all the way to the right". Normally, this would make me assume it's CLOSED, and turning it to the left is my only option. But we've never had a problem. Does this sound right?
Sorry for the long post and lots of questions. I want to attack the rest of this methodically and not do too much extra work since time is limited.
I GREATLY appreciate any help that is given. Thanks!
Brent