On Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:22:17 -0400, "Colbyt"
wrote:


"albee" wrote in message
.. .
I'm not getting any power to my upper thermostat, but checked the
breaker and have 120 and each pole there. I checked the top of the
heater, where the wires come out of the wall and attach to the wires
going into the heater, and I get 2.5 volts coming out of the wall.
Any thoughts on where/what happened?! Do I have to dig through my
walls?! FWIW, I'm in Tampa, FL area, home of massive lightning, which
we had yesterday, but only noticed no hot water today, after two
people showered okay. Possibly they had enough hot water even if it
went out yesterday? But still, I have power out of the breaker...?
Thanks.

I am far from an expert on electric water heaters. I do know that they are
designed so that both elements can not be on at the same time. Because of
that you may not have power to the top element or the bottom at a given
point in time.

I doubt very much that the wiring in you walls has failed. You should be
able to verify 220 to the disconnect box near the water heater.

I suspect you had one dead element and the other failed in the last day or
so. Good news is that replacing an element or even a pair of them is fairly
simple on most units provided the water cut off will shut of the supply.


Colbyt

Thanks for the reply, but the top receives power first. I just
replaced both thermostats and heater elements about 6-9 months ago.
The wires that I'm testing for power, and receiving 0, are coming to
the upper thermostat from the top - the top two terminals. But really
moot, since I'm not even getting more than 3 volts from the wall into
the top of the heater (is the 2.5 odd? - multimeter set on 200 AC).

Don't have a disconnect box near the heater, unless that's what I'm
referring to as having checked and gotten 2.5 volts. It's simply a
small concave part of the top of the heater, wherein the wires coming
from the wall attach to the wires going into heater.