The checks you can do safely
- Check the switchboard for a tripped breaker or safety switch on the hot water circuit. If one has tripped, reset it once.
- Check whether other things in the house have lost power too — that points at the board rather than the tank.
- If your system runs on a controlled-load tariff, check whether it has simply not had its heating window yet.
- Look at the tank and the ground beneath it for water. A leaking cylinder is a different problem from an electrical one.
If a breaker trips again immediately after resetting, stop. Something is faulty and repeated resetting will not fix it.
What not to do
Do not open the access plate on the cylinder, and do not try to test the element. It is a mains-voltage connection on a tank of hot water, and it is the point where this stops being a household job.
Do not keep resetting a breaker that will not hold. It is telling you something.
Controlled load catches people out
Many electric hot water systems run on a controlled-load tariff, meaning they only heat during set off-peak periods. If the household has been using more hot water than usual, the tank can run out and then simply not reheat until its next window.
That is not a fault, and it is worth knowing before booking a callout. If it happens repeatedly, the answer may be a larger tank or a change to how the circuit is set up.
When to call
Call if the breaker will not hold, if there is water where there should not be, if the system is dead with no obvious cause, or if you simply want it looked at rather than worked out. No hot water is on the list of things we take after-hours calls about.
- What has happened, in your own words.
- Whether anything tripped at the board.
- The age of the system, if you know it.
- Whether it runs on a controlled-load tariff.
Still no hot water
We will find out why.
Electric hot water fault finding across Greater Brisbane, with 24/7 emergency enquiries.
