Troubleshooting Heating Element on Water Heater

Published 02/07/2018

Question:

atwood gc6aa 10e on electric the unit produced hot water for approx 3mins and then went cold cleaned all connections and found faulty thermal cut and replaced after replacing thermal cut the unit produced no hot water switched to lp and unit produced continuous hot water Question: How do I check the heating element to determine if it needs to be replaced?

asked by: Shane

Helpful Expert Reply:

To test your heating element you will need a multimeter like # PT89ZR. You will set your meter to the lowest ohm setting and put one probe on each of the screws on the heating element. You should get something between 10 and 16 ohms. When one is all rusted or corroded you would get no reading to show there is no continuity and it would most likely throw your breaker.

Since your water is really cold, you most likely have a failed heating element and will need to replace it.

expert reply by: Jason S