New Water Heater Failure

[Master of None]

Just purchased and installed a new Rheem water heater from home depot 2 weeks ago.

Upon starting I noticed the lower element was bot coming on when the tank was full and on a well with ice cold water only the top element was heating so I thought that was weird but it has the status indicator panel on the outside for each element and the bottom element did eventually start heating but now I have no hot water and no indicator lights at all.

I can remove and return to home depot for a swap or refund so trying to decide if it would be better to swap for another rheem or get a refund and get AO Smith from Lowes?

Can’t wait long this is a single bath home wjth zero hot water and the well water is quite cold.

Opinions?

 

[Twowaxhack]

If the tank isn’t leaking there’s no need to replace it.

Check all your wiring and electrical connections. Look for Loose or burnt wires.

Check your voltage at the incoming wiring. Should have 220-250 typically

 

[Master of None]

If the tank isn’t leaking there’s no need to replace it.

Check all your wiring and electrical connections. Look for Loose or burnt wires.

Check your voltage at the incoming wiring. Should have 220-250 typically

Agreed but I just don’t want to be working on something that’s only 2 weeks old. So that’s why i am thinking of swapping the whole thing or getting a refund and buying a different brand.

 

[havasu]

Agreed but I just don’t want to be working on something that’s only 2 weeks old. So that’s why i am thinking of swapping the whole thing or getting a refund and buying a different brand.

That's what I would do.

 

[Twowaxhack]

Agreed but I just don’t want to be working on something that’s only 2 weeks old. So that’s why i am thinking of swapping the whole thing or getting a refund and buying a different brand.

My response to that is…..then why bother posting about it ? Go replace it. . I’ve yet to find a brand that hasn’t given me trouble. If I changed brands every time I had trouble I would’ve long ran out of brands because they all basically suck. The type same crackheads are putting them together with basically the same materials and methods.

 

[Twowaxhack]

That's what I would do.

What if it ended up being a loose wire on the bottom thermostat that would take 2 minutes to tighten ? You’d go through 1/2 a day of crap returning and replacing for a loose wire ?

What if the new brand has a loose wire ? . Another trip to the store ?


Most Rheems sold at Home Depot come with a one year in home service warranty for free.

 

[Twowaxhack]

What if the breaker is tripped ? Did you check the breaker ?

Why did you replace the heater to begin with ?

FYI: Both water heater elements do not run at the same time. It’s called non simultaneous operation.

On a cold tank of water the top thermostat calls for heat and the upper heating element turns on and heats the water to the thermostat setting.

Once the top thermostat is satisfied the power is then switched to the lower thermostat and if it’s calling for heat and it would be on a cold tank…..the lower element fires until the lower thermostat is satisfied.

If the top thermostat doesn’t get satisfied the lower element will never fire. The upper element MUST operate in order for the upper thermostat to send power to the lower thermostat in order to fire the lower heating element.

That’s how my 11yr old explained it to me. I posed the question to him. He’s my apprentice.

 

[Master of None]

What if the breaker is tripped ? Did you check the breaker ?

Why did you replace the heater to begin with ?

FYI: Both water heater elements do not run at the same time. It’s called non simultaneous operation.

On a cold tank of water the top thermostat calls for heat and the upper heating element turns on and heats the water to the thermostat setting.

Once the top thermostat is satisfied the power is then switched to the lower thermostat and if it’s calling for heat and it would be on a cold tank…..the lower element fires until the lower thermostat is satisfied.

If the top thermostat doesn’t get satisfied the lower element will never fire. The upper element MUST operate in order for the upper thermostat to send power to the lower thermostat in order to fire the lower heating element.

That’s how my 11yr old explained it to me. I posed the question to him. He’s my apprentice.

I checked the basics. I am an electrical engineer in an industrial manufacturing plant for work.

I would think that if I had two thermostats running two different elements and the water is ice cold they would both be on and run independent of each other?

Have water heaters always been setup as you describe so that the bottom element is dependent on the top or is it some new efficiency thing?

Seems like it would recoup faster and be more redundant if they worked independently.

 

[sarg]

Both elements ( 4500 ea. ) would require a 40 amp breaker .......... how many of those have you got ?

 

[Twowaxhack]

I checked the basics. I am an electrical engineer in an industrial manufacturing plant for work.

I would think that if I had two thermostats running two different elements and the water is ice cold they would both be on and run independent of each other?

Have water heaters always been setup as you describe so that the bottom element is dependent on the top or is it some new efficiency thing?

Seems like it would recoup faster and be more redundant if they worked independently.

It’s called non simultaneous operation and they’ve always been like that.


Both elements DO NOT fire together at the same time.

If the top thermostat/element doesn’t operate correctly and heat the bottom element will never fire.

It’s that simple.

 

[Twowaxhack]

Both elements ( 4500 ea. ) would require a 40 amp breaker .......... how many of those have you got ?

 

[Twowaxhack]

Seems like it would recoup faster and be more redundant if they worked independently.

They do work independently but the upper thermostat contains the switch that turns on the lower element and turns off the upper element.

This ensures both elements will not fire together because that would overload the circuit which is typically a 10ga wire with a 30 amp double pole breaker.

Did I win the prize ? I feel like I’m at the circus.