OK ..... here goes. About 6 years ago we had the plumbing in the ceiling of our basement re-done with Pex pipe after a couple of leaks in the original copper piping. Since our 50 gallon water heater had about run its useful course, we put in a new State commercial grade water heater. In the past few months the water heater decides on its own when it will and will not work. The red reset switch on the top thermostat has to be pushed, every day or two, or every other week, or once a month ....... no particular pattern. I had to reset it this morning for the first time in several weeks. You never know, I may have t reset it in the next day or two.
About 3 weeks ago, I cut off the power, drained the tank (a bunch of the anode rod crystals came out). When the tank was drained I checked the continuity of the heating elements and both checked out. I was going to check and change, if necessary, the anode rod, but I could not get it to turn, even using a 2' extension on a 1/2" drive ratchet. I guess I'll need an impact wrench.
A couple of weeks before, my electrician checked out all of the connections and the thermostats and said he could not find anything wrong. Apparently, the water heater is the only thing on the circuit, so it is not another compliance for item triggering it. Anyone have any ideas?
Since it's intermittent, maybe the electrician checked it when it was working fine. Could still be a bad thermostat. I'm not a water heater expert, but I have worked on many intermittent electronics/computer problems before. Im working on one right now at work.
Drain tank, clean rust from heating element (R&R) and see how it goes. If it's not setting the breaker because of that, you likely have a faulty breaker. ...and keep a spare heating element for swap if you're in a high mineral area.
I would suspect the thermostats. The red button is a high limit. That could be the issue or the "regular" thermostats might be failing and are overheating and tripping the high limit. They are not really high quality. They are, however, simple to replace.
Can't fix what ain't broke..
Intermittent issues are a real pain sometimes.
It's likely the mechanism and electronics in the reset part of the thermostat. You could wait until it fails completely or just replace it.
Good luck with the anode rod as they seem to be universally tight. I installed a new water heater tank last year and wished I would have loosened then tightened the anode to make its replacement much easier.
I think Tom and Rick (and Jeff) are right on the money. I think I will just replace the top thermostat that has the reset button. They are not very expensive and easy to replace, so even if that is not the problem I will not have spent a lot of money. My electrician checked out the breaker and it is fine.
Thanks all that replied! I'll let you know the results!
Let us know your results. Good Luck. Brad
My past experience with this was corroded heating elements, which can only be decipher by removing and taking a look physically
quote:
Originally posted by mmuussiiccaallMy past experience with this was corroded heating elements, which can only be decipher by removing and taking a look physically
Rick ..... my electrician suggested that the only way to get a good reading for continuity is to drain the tank ...... which I did and they checked out fine. I did not take them out. Since the unit is barely six years old, and our water is extremely good here in upstate SC, I think the elements are probably ok. If the thermostat doesn't solve it, I will drain it again and remove them. The darn water heaters are really pretty simple, so I should be able to fix whatever is wrong ...... if I can figure it out ..... the hard part.
FYI, make sure you’re thermostat is hard pressed against the side of the tank or it won’t read the correct temperature and throw things out of whack also
quote:
Originally posted by mmuussiiccaallFYI, make sure you’re thermostat is hard pressed against the side of the tank or it won’t read the correct temperature and throw things out of whack also
Something like that could be the problem. I originall had the temp set up for about 140 and my electrician suggested that I turn it back down to 125, which I did. Then I noticed one day last week that the water temp was much higher than 125 and wondered what was going on.
sounds like thermostat to me also..... not too bad to replace (most of the time).
Trash that hunk of junk and go with a wood fired water heater.
quote:
Originally posted by Texican65Trash that hunk of junk and go with a wood fired water heater.
I'm with you Dow, but the Misses vetoed that idea immediately!
quote:
Originally posted by BanjoLinkquote:
Originally posted by Texican65Trash that hunk of junk and go with a wood fired water heater.
I'm with you Dow, but the Misses vetoed that idea immediately!
Ha! Figures.
I tell mine that when I retire...in 17 years, if I can live that long...I want a small hand built cabin...by me...like Dick Proenneke's in Alaska....and I don't want any power, no running water, no plumbing.
She says, "That's fine...go ahead...but I won't be coming with you."
What's wrong with them?
quote:
Originally posted by Texican65quote:
Originally posted by BanjoLinkquote:
Originally posted by Texican65Trash that hunk of junk and go with a wood fired water heater.
I'm with you Dow, but the Misses vetoed that idea immediately!
Ha! Figures.
I tell mine that when I retire...in 17 years, if I can live that long...I want a small hand built cabin...by me...like Dick Proenneke's in Alaska....and I don't want any power, no running water, no plumbing.
She says, "That's fine...go ahead...but I won't be coming with you."
What's wrong with them?
They's wimmen ...... that's what!
Dow, from the Unsolicited Advice Dept.: Do it while you're able. [Not complainin', but I never did "get around to" a long-distance kayak trip that bounced around in my noggin m-a-n-y years ago.]
I/we used to go camping .... real camping ... tent, sleeping bag on the ground, machete that served as a hammer/ax/can opener/etc. Somewhere along the line the ground got too hard .... nowadays it's strictly top tier* for us .... a '75 SurfSide. It's pretty basic, even though I sometimes call it glamping .... and having "shore power" sure is nice!!
* so long as nobody cares about the +/-1/2 million dollar units a lot of other people apparently prefer. A few years back we were already set up when a $$$$$ RV pulled in and stopped in front of our site while the guy got out to peruse the open sites. As we exchanged pleasantries I observed that we pretty much had the two extremes sitting right there. The guy's first job upon parking it was to get out and clean (?) bugs from the grill, mirrors, etc.** We could see a TV set rotate down from the ceiling and somebody [his wife?] watching it ... we left mid-morning the next day and she still hadn't ventured out of the unit.
** What's wrong with him?!?!?? 
Edited by - Owen on 08/17/2026 09:10:56
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