Residential Rheem Electric Water Heater Problem Repair And Reviews

Question: I have a rheem electric water heater. we can get the water semi warm, but not shower or bath hot. temp is up?

(Posted by: on 2009-06-01 12:07:33)

Model #81VH40D serial # RH 0201247137. 50 gallons. we just moved into this house. it was winterize and de- winterized. we have a little warm water, but takes a little bit to even get to that point. we turned up the thermostat too. still nothing. is there anything that we might be missing? something we should check for? model #81VH40D serial # RH 0201247137. 50 gallons. we just moved into this house. it was winterize and de- winterized. we have a little warm water, but takes a little bit to even get to that point. we turned up the thermostat too. still nothing. is there anything that we might be missing? something we should check for? UPDATE: thank you for all the help. we replaced the top and bottom element, and we now have working hot water!!!! all it cost was 18 bucks instead of a new water heater. when they dewinterized the house, they didn't turn the thermostat down, and it burned the crap outta it. but it's all taken care of now. thanks again for all the tips. you helped us out

Posted by: Dr Perry Cox on 2009-06-01, 14:47:44

Before you really get into checking the unit first go over the basics. Make sure that you have a right sized unit. You can do this by getting the square footage of you house and then going to the rheem website and looking up the model number. Water heaters like furnaces have to be the right size. Just like you would use a pick up truck instead of a car to tow a boat.

Posted by: Foggy on 2009-06-01, 12:14:50

Check for a bad breaker. Check for 220 volts at the elements. Check to see if either element is open. Check heater controls.

Posted by: David Hawke on 2009-06-01, 13:30:26

Sounds like you may have a bad heating element. (I am assuming you have an electric model and not gas) The elements are cheap and pretty easy to change if you want to do it yourself. (Make sure you drain the water before removing an element). You will need a screw driver and special wrench to change the element, they are available at any home center and cheap too. Go ahead and change both elements, (there will be an upper and a lower element. You should also drain the water heater once a year to keep sediment from building up.

Posted by: colddeception on 2009-06-01, 16:11:05

Everytime i get this problem at my cabin in the mountains, it is always the top element. the bottom element is heating the water but not fast enough, which is why your water is luke warm.

Posted by: Corky R on 2009-06-01, 19:28:12

If this is a 50 gal. tank, it most certainly has top and bottom elements. It will also have a non-simultaneous upper thermostat, which means that it won't allow both elements to heat at the same time. If you get a little hot water, but not enough for a bath or a shower, then the most common problem is a bottom element having burned out. The top element heats first, until the top half of the tank's water is up to the set temp, then it shuts down the top element and switches to the bottom element so the bottom half can heat up too. If the tank has never had elements replaced, or at least the bottom, that's usually what's wrong. However, even though the elements are not terribly expensive, they can be a real pain to change, especially if the originals were the folded over type. When they heat, the fold opens just slightly and makes the element then, too big to come out through the hole without a lot of work. It can usually be done, but is sometimes a real chore. Also, the socket wrench sold by most home improvement stores has about a 50 % chance of spinning around on the nut on the outside of the element, which makes it pretty much useless. You may as well invest in a decent socket and ratchet or breaker bar to get them out, it will be a lot easier and may even save a knuckle or two. While you have the element out, you can most likely extend the life of the new one by cleaning the lime sediment out of the bottom of the tank, through the element hole.