I have a few questions about an electric hot water heater. It's a 40 gallon
electric model with an upper and lower thermostat. It sits in the basement
and the facets that it's connected to haven't been used in a few years. I
wasn't getting any hot water when I turned the hot side of the faucet on, so
I took the inspection covers off the hot water heater. I pressed the reset
button and it pulled in and I can hear the unit working now.

The question I have is should I get 220 volts across the lower heating
element and lower thermostat when I check both screw terminals? I get 120
volts when I touch one and one side of the meter to ground. But when I check
both terminals I get nothing.

The upper thermostats and element read 220 volts when the meter is placed on
the pair of screws at the same time. Is the lower working right?

Thanks,
Brian