Water Heater Upper Thermostat Melted

Testing water heater thermostats is important in locating water heater problems.

Water heater upper thermostat melted.

I removed the upper and lower thermostat shields and found they were set at approx. Burning rubber or plastic if you smell burning rubber or burning plastic turn off the power source at the breaker first before trying to pinpoint the smell. Lower thermostat on hot water heater has melted plastic. The lower thermostat compartment had water soaking the insulation piece that i had to remove to see the thermostat.

Both thermostats on the same water heater do not have the same features. The upper thermostat controls both the upper and lower element. How to set the upper and lower thermostats on dual element water heaters. You can test them with the power off using an ohmmeter to measure resistance or with the power on using a voltmeter to measure voltage.

If the electrical contacts on the thermostat mounted outside the water heater are overheating the plastic parts around the switch may overheat and burn. When it goes bad you don t have any hot water at all. Many modern homes come with dual element water heaters. This article deals with thermostats on electric water heaters.

This type of thermostat is for use in 2 element water heaters. A dual element water heater uses two heating elements controlled. But the lower one detects any change in the temperature of the water. The thermostat on top acts as the primary one while having a high limit switch.

These water heaters often have a non simultaneous design which means that only 1 heating element is on at any given time. They even do not work at the same time. Water heater smells like. Electric water heaters have one or two elements and each is controlled by a thermostat.

The high limit switch is found on the location as the upper thermostat.