[Gibone]

7/1/2011 purchased a 110 year old home (historic registered) was re-piped in 2007. 5 bed /4.5 Bath . WH was a single element 40 gal. I thought that was the reason the luke warm water temp was from undersized unit . I purchased and instasallled a Nearly new WH Lowes energy smart electric to replace , plenty of heat at the presure release brass valve, and on the iner- tank skin extremely hot to touch. so this along with a volt and ohm meter with no power on and the wires off the elements the elements tested good, with ohm meter. as well with it hooked up the volt meter has 240VAC at the elements. How ever no Hot water at any sink or shower. I shut all the supply valves to each accessible device and tried the sink in an adjencent room from the laundry where the WH is located no hot water what should I do next ? ( this is a 3story with crawl space frame house built 1901 in Central Florida)
Gibone:wink:

 

[Alan]

Single element electrics usually run on 110V.

Did you rewire it?

If the full tank seems plenty hot, it probably will cool off very quickly when used because only one element is working at 110v

If you did wire it for 220v, the issue could still be a problem with the water heater, one or both of the elements or thermostats.

(looks like you checked all this) doesn't hurt to double check.

Is the water heater plumbed in correctly? If the cold is going into the hot nipple for some unknown reason, you will have this issue due to the water for the hot supply being drawn off the bottom of the tank through the cold fill tube.

If that isn't the issue, you could have a crossover somewhere in the system allowing cold water to flow into the hot side when you open a faucet. This would be more noticeable at certain fixtures that are closer to the crossover than they are from the water heater, and others that are closer to the water heater than they are from the crossover would not suffer the same symptoms, or at least not as severe.

 

[Homerepairguy]

Maybe some things to verify and try:

1. When you say "no hot water", do you mean cold water flows or no water flows?

2. Are the faucets separate hot and cold, or single handle?

3. Verify that the hot and cold water pipes are not connected to the water heater in reverse.

4. Try turning off the cold water going into the water heater using the valve above the heater. Then turn only the hot water on at each faucet and see what happens. If a lot of water flows out of the spouts, then something does not sound right.

HRG

 

[Gibone]

I have water flow through out the system . .I have 240vac at each element as it toggles between the top nd bottom. (13.2 amps) , water heater is not the issue.
I have switched the top lines into the water heater. by cutting the cpvc and coupling them on the opposite supply line. i gave the WH 20 minutes to recover once reestablished full tank and powered up WH . closed every spiquet. and check the shower adjacent the laundry and still no Hot water coming out , tried hot side, middle and then cold side 3-5 minutes each.
Gibone

 

[DannyT]

they do make 220 single element Wh's. is the cold supply connected to the inlet marked cold on the water heater? since you say this an "nearly new" water heater are you sure the dip tube is in the cold inlet? it directs the cold water to the bottom of the tank and the hot water comes off the top of the tank. if the water heater is connected backwards you wont get hot water. if the diptube is missing on a correctly connected water heater you will get a small amount of hot water if the tank is completely heated. pictures would help a lot. you say the water heater gets hot you just arent getting hot water at the faucets correct? if the water in the tank is hot then there is a problem with the way its connected or your piping in the house. 20 minutes is not enough time to wait if the tank was full of cold water.

 

[Adam_M]

What's the wattage of each element 13.8 sounds very low should be around 18 or 19 ohms.

Voltage X Voltage ÷ watts per element = ohms, If I remember right.

 

[Gibone]

Single facet in each shower, and separate in each lavatory. As instructed I shut off the Cold water valve above WH and turned on Hot water to lavatory's and full flow of water comes out Cold, ( remember I have swapped out the H & C pipes above the water heater.)

 

[Homerepairguy]

Single facet in each shower, and separate in each lavatory. As instructed I shut off the Cold water valve above WH and turned on Hot water to lavatory's and full flow of water comes out Cold, ( remember I have swapped out the H & C pipes above the water heater.)

Please explain exactly what you mean by "remember I have swapped out the H & C pipes above the water heater". Is the cold water pipe connected to the cold input to the heater? Maybe a picture would help.

Is there an anti-scald mixing valve installed above your water heater? It will look something like this:

Where one leg connects to the cold inlet pipe and one leg to the hot outlet pipe of your water heater, with the third leg connected to the hot water pipe feeding your home. The adjusting knob can look different. This could be diverting cold water into your hot water line.

HRG