Electric Hot Water Heater Not Working After Draining

Watch as i drain and refill a 40 gallon rheem electric hot water heater.

Electric hot water heater not working after draining.

See if your water heater drain closed completely by looking for leaks at the spout. Before checking any electrical parts of a water heater shut off the power to the heater s circuit by turning off the appropriate breaker in your home s service panel breaker box. Over time sediment and rust can build up in the tank and draining the tank will get rid of this foreign material. If you have a gas hot water heater you may be able to do this procedure with the gas on but turned to the lowest setting.

However if that is not the cause of the problem it s not difficult to troubleshoot your water heater to locate the issue. Sometimes the problem isn t actually a clogged water heater but a defective valve. You ll want to ensure all of the faucets in the house are off so that air can t get into the tank while you re working. If it did not close completely you can put a cap over the hose thread of the outlet to stop the leak.

An absence of hot water generally occurs as a result of all the hot water in the tank being used up for example by running both the washing machine and dishwasher at the same time. If an electric heating element turns on while not submersed in water it will burn out possibly leading to replacement of the entire water heater. Electric water heaters are high voltage 240 volt appliances that are dangerous to work with when the power is on. The most obvious reason an electric heater doesn t work is that it s not receiving any power.

Electric hot water heater maintenance draining and filling the tank. Draining your hot water heater annually is an important piece of routine maintenance you should perform on the unit to extend its lifespan and make sure it operates as efficiently as possible. If you have no hot water there are several possible reasons and you need to work through each of them methodically to eliminate each one and this will also depend on whether you have an electric or gas powered heater. Relight the water heater pilot or turn the power back on if it is an electric heater.

Check the drain valve.