I rather stupidly drained my electric water heater without shutting the power off.
When I refilled it, it did not heat, which is expected. I assumed I blew the top heating element as it drained, which would have then shut off the bottom heating element or perhaps both would blow.
However, when I took out a multimeter to test, the top heating element seems OK (set to 2kΩ registers .01), whereas the bottom seems shot (registered 1.5).
I am worried I am misunderstanding something though, as I don't see how draining a water tank can cause the bottom heating element to fail, while leaving the top one intact. It seems like either both need to blow, or just the top.
Do I have my interpretation of the multimeter reading backward? Any insight would be very much appreciated.
Best Answer
The bottom element always turns on first. Cold water enters the water heater at the bottom via a "dip tube" from the top that directs the cold water to the bottom. The thermostats that control the elements are staggered. As the WH cooled, the lower element would have kicked in first, probably frying it. A lot depends upon how long it was empty. Fortunately elements aren't very expensive, you may have to replace both.