I have been experiencing some isssues with hot water not lasting long enough with our "new" hot water heater. I had to replace it last May, and took the opportunity to increase the tank size, with the idea that we could squeeze more hot water from it. However, despite some tinkering and twinking with the temperature settings, we've been getting seemingly less hot water from the tank than our old one. And yes, there's not a crazy difference in a 40 and 50 gal tank, nor should we realistically expect a crazy amount of water from only a 50 gallon heater, but we should realize some improvement. Simply put, what was working before was upgraded to something that should work better, but actually is worse.
I decided to tear into it with the multimeter, testing to see if maybe one of the elements was faulty, or if a thermostat was bad. Not quite definitive on the results, but my suspicion is that the upper thermostat is sticking just enough that its inconsistently sharing time with the lower.
I've added a video of me demonstrating the issue & going through the testing. Starting out, the "call for heat" should come from the lower thermostat, which is why you'll hear the beep of my multimeter. Then I switch the terminal so that the upper should be calling for heat, but not seeing consistent results as I adjust the temperature selector; Demonstration Video
I did post an issue with my newly installed system a few months back, here in which the breaker was going bad and causing voltage drops. Theory: The voltage drops affected the thermostat.
I'm thinking I'll just spend the $20 and change out the thermostat. But am I mistaken in what I think the issue is?
