Check Water Heater Thermostat Continuity

An electric hot water heater has two thermostats controlling two separate heating elements one in the upper half of the tank one in the lower half.

Check water heater thermostat continuity. At times the water from your electric heater could be cold and the heater not functional despite the power being on. In such a case there is a need to carry out a voltage test. I will see you soon on the next interesting topic. The meter should be showing zero if terminal has continuity.

I hope my tutorial on how to test water heater thermostat will come in use and you ll be able to figure out the problem without any trouble. Measuring the voltage of a water heater thermostat using a digital multimeter. Working with electricity is very dangerous and can kill you. This is important especially as open and grounded heating elements result in inaccurate tests.

To view all our multimeter ranges go to http bit ly 1edndeo in this video josh shows us how to use a multimeter to check for faults in a thermostat. Usually when the upper thermostat goes bad you will have no hot water at all while a bad lower thermostat makes itself known when there is only a small amount of hot water before the tap water goes cold. How to test a water heater thermostat for continuity step by step. To look for faults you will need to use a screwdriver.

Hot water heaters are an important home appliance that heat water for use in your sinks dishwasher washing machine and shower. This will determine if the thermostat has failed. You will also need to check the water heater thermostat with digital multimeter tools. If the water in your home doesn t get any hotter than a lukewarm temperature try turning up the heat if that doesn t solve the problem it s possible that 1 of the heating elements in the water heater is malfunctioning or broken.

If you want to test a thermostat on an electric water heater you will also need to check the heating element. The upper thermostat is the primary one that contains the high limit switch and the lower thermostat is used to detect the change in the temperature of the water. What is continuity simply put continuity is the ability of the wire or element to complete an electrical circuit. And if that is not the case your water heater s thermostat is damaged.

Here are the steps to follow while measuring the voltage of your heaters thermostat. Clip one of the test leads from your dmm to each terminal on the thermostat. The meter will indicate an open circuit by displaying ol on its liquid crystal display lcd for a good thermostat that has normally open no contacts or it will display zero 0 00 ohms for a good thermostat that has normally closed nc contacts. See troubleshooting for electric water heaters or gas water heater troubleshooting for all of the water heater problems and resources.