new electric water tank | flush water 'lukewarm' for first few minutes...

[cooch17]

Last summer I had a brand new electric hot water tank installed -- a 50g State ProLine unit.

Ths past week-end,I did a tank flush, when I noticed something I wanted to ask about -- when I was draining the water out of the tank, no sediment at all (good!), but...for the first 5-6 minutes, the water coming out of the tank was only lukewarm at best -- definitely not hot. It eventually *after 6-7 minutes of draining (whole process took ~25 minutes) got hotter, and then fully hot. I know that in the tank the warmest water is at the top (so it would make sense that by the time that part of the water column in the tank is draining out,its hot water coming out), but is it *normal* for the water to be only luke warm for the first few minutes? Or, is this indicating something wrong with the lower heating element?

Before I pull things apart and try a continuity test on the elements, wanted to get your opinion. This is mt first electric water heater, so my sense of what is/should be 'normal' is pretty minimal (for my gas fired water heaters, the water that came out during a flush was hot from the get-go). If the (lower) element comes up faulty, warranty fix,but...before I pull that trigger.

Thanks in advance...

 

[Twowaxhack]

If you’re getting enough hot water then leave it alone.

 

[cooch17]

Sounds practical, except that *if* only the upper element is working, then its not a particularly energy-efficient setup, since one element is effectively trying to heat the whole tank.

 

[Twowaxhack]

Sounds practical, except that *if* only the upper element is working, then its not a particularly energy-efficient setup, since one element is effectively trying to heat the whole tank.

If your bottom element wasn’t heating almost the entire lower half of the tank would be cold.

The top and bottom half of the tank both have thermostats/elements. The top heats first and then cuts off and then switches to the lower thermostat/element.

The upper thermostat/element will NOT try to heat the entire tank, just the top half.

A common complaint of a lower element not firing is:

“ I get a hot shower for a few minutes then it runs cold “


Your water heater is most likely working fine.

When I check an element, I check the voltage applied and the wattage of the element. Then I divide the stated wattage by the applied voltage to get Amps.

I then make the element fire and check it’s amperage.

If it reads more than a point or two either direction, high or low, I replace it.

If it reads O amps then the element is faulty.