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We have a two element electric water heater. Just about whenever we have lightning around our house, something happens which results in luke warm showers the following morning. Cycling the circuit breaker (not the reset switch on the hot water heater top thermostat) "seems" to get the hot water flowing in the shower again after a day or so. Intuition tells me the hot water heater is somehow getting tripped.
I couldn't find a thing on this doing google searches.
Way out there question: Is there any way the lightning is affecting plumbing or something in the house other than the hot water heater? We have single handle Delta shower handles. No water circulators. I know it's reaching, but is there something in the plumbing system that could be affected by lightning? I am not 100% certain the hot water heater is actually tripping as the laundry room faucet near the hot water heater delivers scalding hot water. (I forgot if I could hear the hot water heater making characteristic heating noise prior to cycling the circuit breakers.)
First of all, it's a water heater. Not a hot water heater. It makes the water hot. (My personal irritant).
Are you saying the breaker for the water heater "trips" with storms? If so, your best bet is to get an electrician to check the circuit for surges. the breaker may be too small or not surge protected.
I'd check the breaker out. I'm assuming it's a two-pole breaker and what can happen is one breaker trips but looks to be in the on position because it's being held by the other switch. Cycling of course, resets it. The breaker could be faulty and needs replacement. Since it happens during a lightning storm, you should look into additional protection for your panel.
. . what can happen is one breaker trips but looks to be in the on position because it's being held by the other switch. . .
OP stated they still have hot water at laundry sink.
not possible if one side of the cb trips, which i don't see happening on a two pole 3-wire circuit unless there is a serious malfunction w/ the circuit breaker.
to the OP, it seems to me your problem cannot be electrical if you still have "scalding hot" water at the laundry sink.
If breaker is not actually "tripped", then its not likely a breaker issue.
If the luke warm water is only in the showers, then it is probably in the shower faucets, especially if you have HOT water at the laundry sink.
Another thing can happen, if you have REALLY HOT water, then luke warm, then HOT again, during the same shower. 1. You could have ONE bad element. 2. The dip tube in the water heater may be bad or come loose inside the tank. The dip tube circulates the water inside the tank, and if its not right, then the cold water feeding the tank, does not circulate properly and you will get COLD, HOT, COLD, etc.
One way to tell if you have a bad dip tube is to take of a faucet strainer and look for little white plastic chips in the screen. There was a recal on dip tubes, but it was during the late 90's and only applied to water heaters made between 92? and 96.
If you house is fairly new, and you have scald guard shower faucets, there is an adjustment inside to control the temperature. If you have them, they might be out of whack.
ON the HOT WATER HEATER thing. I also cringe when I hear that phrase (I'm a home inspector). However, since the burners or elements go on during use, it is not always "heating" COLD water. Some of the water is HOT, so in reality, it is heating HOT water. However, its best to just call it a "Water Heater", and leave it at that.
We have a two element electric water heater. Just about whenever we have lightning around our house, something happens which results in luke warm showers the following morning. Cycling the circuit breaker (not the reset switch on the hot water heater top thermostat) "seems" to get the hot water flowing in the shower again after a day or so. Intuition tells me the hot water heater is somehow getting tripped.
I couldn't find a thing on this doing google searches.
Way out there question: Is there any way the lightning is affecting plumbing or something in the house other than the hot water heater? We have single handle Delta shower handles. No water circulators. I know it's reaching, but is there something in the plumbing system that could be affected by lightning? I am not 100% certain the hot water heater is actually tripping as the laundry room faucet near the hot water heater delivers scalding hot water. (I forgot if I could hear the hot water heater making characteristic heating noise prior to cycling the circuit breakers.)
Anybody ever hear of this?
An electric water heater will hold hot water for about three days, even with no power. That pretty much eliminates the intuited possibility.
If you can hear the thing, then you likely have a calcium buildup on the elements, but I think that is beside the point.
Lukewarm showers, recovery time a day, no circulator pumps, resetting breaker seems to help. ... ... ... nah, not anti-scald, that doesn't require power ... cold water colder? nah... reset switch is ok means not electronic... hot water at laundry sink... is there by chance a second heater that serves that area? A lot of homes have two heaters. Is the breaker a GFI breaker or one of those new anti-arc breakers? You've got an interesting one, Charles.
Just a thought. If you have a multimeter, check BOTH elements and then check that after a large use of hot water the TOP element gets power first, and then it switches to the lower element properly. You might have the top element out.
An electric water heater will hold hot water for about three days, even with no power. That pretty much eliminates the intuited possibility.
If you can hear the thing, then you likely have a calcium buildup on the elements, but I think that is beside the point.
Lukewarm showers, recovery time a day, no circulator pumps, resetting breaker seems to help. ... ... ... nah, not anti-scald, that doesn't require power ... cold water colder? nah... reset switch is ok means not electronic... hot water at laundry sink... is there by chance a second heater that serves that area? A lot of homes have two heaters. Is the breaker a GFI breaker or one of those new anti-arc breakers? You've got an interesting one, Charles.
Just a thought. If you have a multimeter, check BOTH elements and then check that after a large use of hot water the TOP element gets power first, and then it switches to the lower element properly. You might have the top element out.
Only one heater. I used a multimeter and verified voltage on top and bottom, switching between them by turning the thermostat screws. This was a while ago. The thing is, eventually the heater starts working fine after a day or so. Something about the lightning may trip the thermostat??? Not sure. Next time it happens, I need to listen to the heater to see if it is cycling before I cycle the breakers. If it isn't cycling, then I'll cycle the breakers and listen again. If the heater starts heating then it sounds like the thermostats opened up and by cycling the breakers, they got reset. Cycling the breakers is easier than pulling the cover off the heater and pushing the reset. Weird.
One other bizarre thing. At one point I thought I thought the problem was caused by mixing, cold water mixing with hot. So I shut off the water supply to the heater so no hot water should come out of any tap in the house. OK, I did that and when I opened the hot water faucets, no hot water came out (after the pipes drained). (If cold water came out then that would indicate mixing.) However, when I went to that one handled shower, not only did no hot water come out, but barely any cold water came out either if I moved the temp lever to cold. What the funk? This happened only at that shower. All the faucets in the house provided cold water.
The switching goes from top element fulfilling the heat requested in the top part of the tank, to the top thermostat being cycled to the off position and power being diverted to the lower element. Once the lower element tstat clicks off, the system waits for the hot water to be used to the point that a tstat kicks back on.
Time to get that multimeter out again. Both elements should give you about 12 to 13 ohm resistance between the two terminals when the wires are disconnected, and there should be no electric connection (infinite resistance) from either terminal to the tank or ground.
If those are OK, then I'm thinking you might have a bad upper tstat and/or high temp cutout (ECO).
Your shower valve is a "balanced" valve. To prevent fluctuations in temperature when someone somewhere else in the house turns on a faucet or flushes the toilet, it balances the pressure between the hot and cold lines and keeps that ratio of pressure. You reduced the pressure in the hot line to zero, so in trying to balance, the cold line now only delivers a dribble.
Your shower valve is a "balanced" valve. To prevent fluctuations in temperature when someone somewhere else in the house turns on a faucet or flushes the toilet, it balances the pressure between the hot and cold lines and keeps that ratio of pressure. You reduced the pressure in the hot line to zero, so in trying to balance, the cold line now only delivers a dribble.
I see. That explains the shower.
Will check out the heater again.
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