Water Heater issue

[MizzouRah]

A few days ago, I noticed when running a bath for our 4 year old, instead of hot water the whole time filling up, it now fills about 1/2 way and then the water gets cold.

It's an electric dual element water heater and I after googling my issue, it's leaning towards the bottom thermostat or heating element.

Just wondered if anyone has had this issue before?

[lordscarlet]

A few days ago, I noticed when running a bath for our 4 year old, instead of hot water the whole time filling up, it now fills about 1/2 way and then the water gets cold.

It's an electric dual element water heater and I after googling my issue, it's leaning towards the bottom thermostat or heating element.

Just wondered if anyone has had this issue before?

Yeah, it was leaking out of the bottom of the hot water heater into my neighbor's ceiling. :)

[Drake]

I'd guess heating element. Do you have particularly hard water? When I had an electric one, I had to replace my elements about every six months, because the lime just ate them up.

Alternately, does your hot water heater make popping noises when it's heating up? That's usually an indicator that you've got a shit load of lime filling up your tank.

[Franklinnoble]

You should shut off the water, drain the heater, and pull the elements (it's not difficult). You'll know right off if you've got a faulty one. Take it to home depot and buy a suitable replacement.

Or, spend some money and convert your house to propane. I miss my gas heater. :(

[MizzouRah]

I'd guess heating element. Do you have particularly hard water? When I had an electric one, I had to replace my elements about every six months, because the lime just ate them up.

Alternately, does your hot water heater make popping noises when it's heating up? That's usually an indicator that you've got a shit load of lime filling up your tank.

Yes, I have heard that from time to time.

I'll drain it when I get home and pull both elements out. If they look bad, I'll just replace both of them.

Thanks!

[MizzouRah]

You should shut off the water, drain the heater, and pull the elements (it's not difficult). You'll know right off if you've got a faulty one. Take it to home depot and buy a suitable replacement.

Or, spend some money and convert your house to propane. I miss my gas heater. :(

Thanks FN!!

I have many Christmas Home Depot cards, if one is bad, I'll probably replace both as I do think we have hard water.

[firebirds]

If you have hard water I would suggest a water softener in the near future. Just switching from an electric heater to a gas heater won't do the trick, especially when comparing the cost of the switch vs. the cost of a water softener. Hard water is hard water no matter how you decide to heat it. We have a gas heater and very hard water. When our heater was doing the exact same thing as yours there was so much sediment in the bottom that the drain tap got clogged and couldn't be cleared out. We got a water softener and haven't had a bit of a problem since. Sure you do have to get salt but the savings in all forms of detergent costs, the inceased longevity of appliances and all the other pluses are worth it for us.

[MizzouRah]

Yes, I'm going to look at a water softener for sure, thanks.

I replaced the lower heating element tonight, we'll see what happens. It was corrorded beyond belief with calcium.