EL wrote:

I can back-up Jeff's advice.

In the first house I owned, I had exactly the same experience with a water heater that was 2 years old. Temp safety switch
tripped for "no reason", I reset it, tripped again a couple weeks later, then it became more frequent. Along the way, I
noticed that the hot water was intermittently a lot hotter than normal.

Flipped a coin and decided to replace the upper thermostat which did not fix it, so I replaced the lower one which *did* fix
it. Like Jeff said, they're cheap and if I have the same experience again I'll just replace both.

Eric Law



I wouldn't have flipped a coin... I would have gone for the lower stat,
on the theory that with typical household hot water usage vs time the
heater is probably cycling on that one most of the time and only
flipping the upper stat at those times when so much hot water is drawn
continuously that that the water at the upper stat gets cool enough to
flip it on. That would auger for the lower stat being the one to "wear
out" first, huh?

I've got a neon pilot lamp hooked to the upper element on mine, and
while I'm near the water heater frequently ('Cause it's in my basement
home workshop.) The only time I can recall seeing it lit was near the
end of one of our daughter's nerve wrackingly long showers, just before
I reached over and shut off the heater's water inlet valve. G

Happy Holidays,

jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia

(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"As long as there are final exams, there will be prayer in public
schools"