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I’ve been having a problem with my electric 40gal AO Smith hot water heater. The unit is four years old and was working fine up until a few days ago. This all started when I turned the main water supply to the house off to conduct pressure tests on a shower I’m building. The main water supply was off for about 20 minutes.

I opened a spigot outside hoping to drain water out of the shower pipes. I forgot to flip the breaker on my water heater. The hot water was cold when my wife showered a few hours later. I checked the elements and I had fried them, so they were replaced.

Now with the new elements and thermostats installed, the tank heats the water up perfectly. However, the tap water is lukewarm at best. The water supplied to the heater comes from a well that has hard water. I noticed “kidney stones” coming out when I drained the tank.

I don’t have any leaks in the water lines leaving the hot water heater. Could the outlet pipe be clogged inside the heater? I took the CPVC off that was threaded to the outlet pipe to see if anything was clogged but didn’t see anything.

I’m at wits end but I don’t want to spend the money to replace the heater if I don’t have to. Any other ideas? I’ve checked and the heater is getting like 248 volts, so power supply isn’t an issue. Also, I’ve checks all the ohms on everything along with my wiring. Thank you in advance

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  • What do you mean "heats the water up perfectly"? What's perfect about it? When you say tap water, do you mean that it is coolish at the shower? At a sink? Everywhere? What have you tried? Why don't you turn up the temperature at the water heater? The model number of the water heater might help people give you better advice.
    – mdfst13
    Commented Jun 22 at 11:04
  • The water in the tank is 125°. This was where the original thermostats were set. Yes, tap water being in the shower and all the sinks. The model is a E6-40R45DV 110
    – Thomas
    Commented Jun 22 at 11:07
  • If you have shut off valves at sinks/showers, turn off the cold water valve and open the hot water faucet. Do you get full flow/pressure?
    – crip659
    Commented Jun 22 at 12:34
  • Is it possible that the expansion tank failed? That can cause debris in the line.
    – DogBoy37
    Commented Jun 22 at 14:54
  • I turned off the cold water supply to the tank and the hot water faucets had full pressure.
    – Thomas
    Commented Jun 22 at 15:24

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A new water heater fixed this.

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