Replacing Water Heater Thermostats

My water heater had been having issues, and the temp was fluctuating between lukewarm and scalding. It was certainly due for a replacement, but I wanted to squeeze some more life out of it. This is how I fixed my Electric Water Heater that was providing inconsistent hot water

As far as repairing a water heater here were some of my options -

Replace the anode rod 

This is recommended to prevent the interior walls from corroding away. This was unlikely to be the cause of the heating problem.

Replace the heating elements

This can cause heating issues, but was relatively riskier fix -

• Draining the water heater. 
• The bottom of the water heater may have debris, that may clog the drain tap.
• Unscrewing the heating elements. 
• The threads may have corroded past the point that allows an easy extraction.

Replace both the water heater thermostats 

The water heater was still heating. The inconsistent water temps led me to believe that the existing thermostats were no longer functioning accurately. This was also the low effort, low risk, low cost alternative to replacing the entire water heater.

Parts

Here are the parts I got. They correspond to the previous thermostats on the Bradford Water Heater.

Apcom WH10-A Bradford White Upper Water Heater Thermostat

Camco 07723 WH9 Lower Thermostat - Apcom Style, Black

Warning

Before proceeding with this work, I turned off the circuit breaker servicing this Water Heater, and used a non contact tester to ensure no electric current in the wire going i the Water Heater.

Removing the Protective Panels

Most electric water heaters have 2 heating elements - top and bottom. Both of these heating elements have their own thermostat, that switch the elements on and off. Both the elements and the thermostats are protected by panels.

Each panels is held in place by one screw at the top. At the bottom of each panel is a lip that slides into and behind the outer metal. The panel has some fiberglass material on its rear side, which ensure that the thermostat inside is not affected by fluctuations in the temps outside the water heater.

Removing the Protective Plastic Cover

Once the panels are removed, you will need to remove the protective plastic covers. These are held in place on either side of the thermostat by plastic "arms". On the top you will need a flat head screw driver to lift the plastic tab over the metal tab to free it. You can then slide the plastic covers out.

Removing the Old Thermostats

You will need to first need to unscrew all the wires. Both thermostats make contact against the water heater tank, and are held in place by metal tabs on either side. While pulling both tabs forward slide the thermostats upward and out. 

Installing the New Thermostats

The new thermostats can be slid into place and wires reconnected through the holes on each electrical metal connector. Note - The bottom thermostat does not have holes on the electrical metal connector.

 The finals steps 

• Set the temp 
• Replace the protective plastic 
• Replace the protective panels