Pro Handyman Blog

If you have an electric water heater and it has stopped producing hot water, there are many things that could be the problem. Before you start leafing through the yellow pages for a plumber, try this quick fix first.

Electric water heaters have 2 heating elements, one in the upper part of the tank and one in the lower part of the tank. Sometimes these heating elements will stop working and need to be replaced.

In addition to the heating elements, there are thermostats that tell the elements to turn on and off to heat the water to the desired temperature. If the system gets overloaded, it will shut off and stop heating water. This situation might be a one-time problem, or it may be indicative of a larger underlying problem. The first thing to do is to push the reset button.

These are under a metal coverings on the outside wall of the tank. Remove the covers and you may need to push away some insulation to get to the reset button. When you press the button you should feel a little resistance and maybe even hear it “click” and it restarts. If all goes well, you should have hot water in about an hour.