electric water heater thermostat problem?

My Sister had the same problem, the man who installed it, said, she couldn't control the water temp. Some idiot he was. Anyway, hers had variable settings, like most do. So I read the manual, yup, sometimes, we men have to do that. But I knew the heat could be controlled.

It took a couple of times, to set it to what she needed, but it's a simple task, even in her tight space.

Just a couple of screws to release the cover plate, adjust the setting higher, then replace the cover plate.

Set it to the C setting, and see if that does the job for you. Read the instruction manual too, for more information.

almost all water heaters have an upper and lower thermostat and element . if thsi is an bradford white water heater ,thermostate problems are very common . I would exchange the thermostat out with new ones , they recognised the problem and make replacement ones . as for the setting start with it in the middle and adjust up and down for your liking .always turn the electric off before removing the covers as you can get one heck of a shock , it is 240 volts after all .also another common problem was with the dip tubes in water heaters failing , this will give you tempered water no matter what you do with T-stats and elements . They have actually had a recall on dip tubes in the recent past .

If the red button is tripping there is a short and yes you push it with the power on. all 40 gal elec WH I've ever seen have two elements one low and one high,double check this because the other element would make a big difference.The setting is usually somewhere between B&C but if it's worked before on B then you have a different problem and messing with the setting will do little to help.Thermostats rarely go out or get out of adjustment within 3 yrs. Hope this helps

You can reset either way.With power on or off.If you reset with power on just be careful.Set the temp to a setting that is right for you.I'm surprised it does not have a degree temp that you set..ie 125 130 etc.

Sounds like you've installed the wrong voltage water heater for your breaker...an electrician should be able to solve this for you by either following the wiring schematic, located on the inside of the access panel to the tank, or by wiring in a new breaker to service your tank.