How to Reset A Tankless Water Heater

Let’s say you turn on the hot water faucet, wait a couple of seconds to heat up, and water still doesn’t come out hot. Sounds familiar? It’s really unpleasant when you get into the shower, and you’re waiting for more than a minute for the hot water.

Unfortunately, it may have happened to all of the use, and it’s quite a common thing, especially for the electric models.

What should you check if that happens?

Checking the water heater’s reset switch is the very first thing to check. The market gives you many models of tankless water heaters, but it’s typically a red button on the upper thermostat of your electric water heater. In some situations, you may need to remove a small panel for reaching it.

If the button is lit up, it means that the switch has tripped, and you need to make a reset. You may easily reset the electric reset button by pressing the red button.

Some unit comes with the lower thermostat reset button. In this situation, you need to push the reset button too. When you push the buttons, but they don’t reset instantly, some parts of the water heater may cause the problem.

There are many reasons for which the reset switch may trip, and one of them leads to water being too hot. A faulty thermostat in the upper or lower heating element may cause the problem also.

One last thought

The thermostats aren’t the only ones that may wear out, tripping the reset button. It’s true especially if you have to reset the unit more often than expected. Here are some situations that lead to you having to reset the button:

• The wiring is loose in a heating element, which is why the heat trips the high-limit switch
• The high-limit switch isn’t good, to begin with. Once the high-limit switch begins to malfunction and overheats the water, the risk for the switch to the trip are high
• A heating element may have a short in it. If that’s the case for you, the thermostat could still work just fine, but the shortage will not disappear. However, the water heater will heat the water beyond the proper temperature, tripping the high-limit switch
• It’s also possible for the heater not to cause the troubleshoot. It can also be the electricity set up in your household leading to the problem.

Once a circuit breaker trips, requiring resetting, the water heater will stop the electricity. Should the unit trip the circuit breaker still, it’s better to call for professional help. He/she will check the tankless water heater and the circuit breaker, looking for issues to other electrical devices connected to the same switch.