Plumbing

No Hot Water? Start Here

Name: No Hot Water? Start Here
Uploaded: 2025-10-01T14:23:06Z
Duration: 1 min 56 s
Description: On a no hot water or low hot water call, start at the kitchen sink to measure actual water temperature. Use a digital, laser, or thermocouple thermometer to record readings before and after service. Then inspect the water heater—note size, type, and connections. Always follow safety protocols when working with electrical systems. Accurate testing helps confirm the issue and guide repairs.

On a no hot water or low hot water call, start at the kitchen sink to measure actual water temperature. Use a digital, laser, or thermocouple thermometer to record readings before and after service. Then inspect the water heater—note size, type, and connections. Always follow safety protocols when working with electrical systems. Accurate testing helps confirm the issue and guide repairs.

Electric Water Heater

Diagnostic

Appliances

Mark Cukro

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Transcript

Okay, so we have a no hot water or not enough hot water service call. So of course you have a service request. You get a key, you knock on the door, see if somebody's home, and the first thing you do is come to the kitchen sink. Now you should measure the temperature. Sometimes people have different ideas of what the right temperature is, so you should measure the temperature of the water.

Now you may have a digital thermometer. A laser thermometer, which is really for the surface temperature. But if this is all you have, use it. And then of course you have a thermocouple that can connect to a multimeter, and you can use that as well. So record the water temperature before you get started and then record the temperature after.

Okay, so the water's getting warmer. Okay, now. A couple things to consider. Most apartments and homes have a 30, 40, somewhere between a 30 and an 80 gallon water heater, so that helps to know what you have. So let's check the temperature. We'll record that. And now let's go take a look at the water heater.

Okay, so here's the water heater closet. Of course, we open the door. Let's take a better look. So this is an AOSmith water heater. It's a little bit older. They do have a good romex connector there, so that's good. It's connected with P-V-C-P-V-C, and if you notice, there's a brass connector here, so something that you can do is check the temperature and right here it's 110 degrees, 109 degrees.

So we do have some hot water. Okay? Now there's a few things that I have to say. Okay? One, make sure you follow all of your safety protocol. If you're gonna work on electrical systems, make sure you don't have a ring.