[arrow80]

Good evening everyone,

Today, all of the sudden we stopped getting the hot water. I have a 5 year old 80 gallon hot water tank and it was working just fine till early this evening. Now we are just getting cold water from the hot water faucet. I am really bad at the water issues and will appreciate any help I get.

Thanks
Arrow80

 

[TarheelTerp]

...have a 5 year old 80 gallon hot water tank...

Gas or Electric?


If gas... did the pilot go out? Can you relight it?
If Elec... did the breaker trip?
Do you know where the WH reset button is?

 

[dj3]

"I am really bad at the water issues and will appreciate any help I get."
- If you want to fix it yourself, it could take a day to fix it or longer, depending on what's wrong and availability of parts.
- Start by learning about the different components in your water heater.
- Learn how to troubleshoot, to find out what parts are faulty.
- There are many educational vids online.
- You want to contact your MFG's customer service, they will cover some of the parts under warranty. Some MFGs are requiring you contact a plumber, they won't ship you certain parts.
- If you want hot water today, consider calling a plumber and get your education later.
- Oh yes I almost forgot: You can always get a new water heater.

 

[arrow80]

Thanks guys for the response. Tarheelterp - its a electric water heater. I just followed the video of reset the heater and it worked. Greatly appreciated your help. learned something new today.

Dj3, completely agreed. I need to pay more attention to the house appliances.

 

[Bud9051]

"completely agreed. I need to pay more attention to the house appliances."

Becoming a home owner will get you schooled on many appliances whether you want to or not. Find and keep all material that comes with appliance you have or buy and follow this forum as it provides many examples where you can learn before something fails.

Bud

 

[dj3]

Electric WHs are different animals.
Glad you resolved it and enjoying hot water again.

 

[arrow80]

So yesterday once again I had to reset the electric water heater as the hot water stopped coming. This is the second time in 2 months that I had to reset the water heater.
Today, the water is extremely hot to touch.
Are these the signs that my 6 year old electric water heater is about the give out and time to replace it?

 

[rjniles]

You have a bad thermostat. Could be the upper or lower, replace them both. Less than $30 for the pair.

 

[AllanJ]

Suggestion for water heater thermostats, worth doing once if you think you have temperature porblems.:

Slowly turn it up all the way. Then slowly turn it down all the way.
Repeat once.
Slowly turn it back to where it was (or a little lower if the water seemed excessivley hot).

The suggestion is for water at the hot faucet to never exceed 120 degrees F.

All-electric water heaters almost always have two thermostats, one under each hatch on the side. (One thermostat for heaters, usually small ones, with one element and one hatch.)

If you still have problems then it is worth replacing the thermostat. No sense having the problem keep coming back and needing continual attention.

 

[arrow80]

Thanks for the recommendations guys. One question- can I use any companies thermostat or does it have to be AOSmith thermostat? I can’t find the model number on the heater.

 

[jmon]

Most are interchangeable. As mentioned, not expensive. Available at any big box or plumbing supply store. Bring the old ones with you and match them up.

As mentioned, good idea to replace both. Just a suggestion.