Ever had to change a water heater element? (I call it Hot Water Heater Element but then all of my plumber friends laugh and say it’s a ‘Water Heater Element’ minus the Hot but anyway, I am not a plumber but this method works if you need an easy way to remove water heater element that is either rusted, or stuck.
A water heater usually has two elements in a normal size water heater. These are what is responsible for heating the water inside the water heater.
A water heater element has a thermostat which when it drops below a certain temperature, sends electricity to through the element, which then heats the water. Then the element will switch off and the other element will kick in.
The problem is that these elements often get coroded with lime or rust which cause them to stop working properly. You can tell when a heater element is going out because you will not get very much hot water, if any coming out of your faucet. This unfortuantely seems to happen at the most inopportune times such as a bath or shower is running and all the hot water is now gone.
You can test the element and thermostat to ensure that they are bad.
The good news is that these can easily be replaced. Just look at the specs on your water heater and head down to your local plumbing supply or hardware store and pick up a new element (or two). While you are at it you can also get a new thermostat while you are there. Usually you can get both pretty cheap.
This brings me to the hack.
I have a water heater that is in an area of the country where lime is insane, coating everything with a nice white film. This lime wreaks havoc on the water heater and builds up in the bottom of it.
In fact, so much lime builds up in my water heater that the bottom element will be buried and almost cemented into the water heater. I am not paying for a new water heater everytime the element goes out which is usually about every 5-6 years or so (which doesn’t seem to bad).
I found in the past that I could get the water heater elements out pretty easy but this time, no matter how hard I tried, I could not get the rusted water heater element to break loose to install the new water heater element.
- I tried the cheap water heater element tool. Total waste of time.❌
- I tried a breaker bar. But couldn’t get enough bite on it. ❌
- I tried W-40 and other lubricants to try and loosen it. ❌
- I tried vice grips. (Don’t do it, or you will probably round the element) ❌
- I tried Pliers. Same as above. ❌
- I tried a chisel and hammer like I had read about. ❌
Nothing seemed to work and I couldn’t get that water heater element to budge or loosen for nothing.
So I talked with my guy down and the local plumbing store and here is what he suggested I:
STEP 1
6-Sided Socket – Order one on amazon.
Head down to your local automotive parts store and pick up a 6-sided socket.
Don’t do what I did the first time and get a star bit. It has to be a 6-sided socket. I would also not recommend a chrome one like below, especially if you have options.
STEP 2
Impact Wrench with breakaway power – Impact Wrench/ Driver on Amazon
Now this is important as ,I originally tried a regular heavy duty drill but the drill didn’t have the torque needed to break the element free. You need an impact driver/ wrench in order to get the torque to take care of business.
So I went to the Home Depot and bought an impact wrench they had on sale. Unfortunatelly, it did NOT have enough torque to get it done. So I returned it. The sale got me and I wanted to get out without spending very much money.
Since I was so sick of dealing with this project, I went by Harbor Freight and got the biggest impact driver they had, which happened to be an automotive impact driver. (I don’t recommend doing this either.) But again, I wanted to prove a point and was sick of playing around.
I got home, added the socket to the big dog impact driver and placed it on there.
Then some magic happened. The split second that I touched the trigger to the driver, it turned that water heater element out of there so quick, I wasn’t even ready for the gush of water that came flying out. It had not only freeed the water heater element, but it had broken it loose from being incased in hard lime inside of the water heater. This was the reason the water heater element would not turn, was because the lime was so concrete like, it was ‘cemented’ inside. That is until I put the impact driver on.
Now, I will never be a Nascar pit crew tire changer, but for one split second, literally, it felt pretty awesome to be able to wield the big impact driver. Unfortunately, I don’t have any other real uses for the tool now, so I would recommend getting one you can use around the house, that is not automotive related. You could also borrow one from somebody.
A couple of tips:
- Use the 6-point socket
- Use an impact driver
- Be prepared for it to come free and have a plan for the water
- Have your new element handy
In case you are wondering about the lime and how I got it out of the water heater. I duct taped an old piece of pex pipe to my shop vac and sucked it all out. In fact I filled up an entire shop vac with lime.
