First-- *** disclaimer *** I am an electrical engineer. If you do not have COMPLETE confidence in your wiring ability, DO NOT DO THIS as you can cause serious damage to you, your TC, your insurance rates, and your liquor stash.Also---if you have gas AND 110v heater elements, this won't work. You won't have room.So, I got tired of my hot water not being adjustable for a variety of reasons. I had an old RealLite TC years ago with an old school mechanical water heater, and it had a real, adjustable thermostat.This is a Suburban water heater, similar to what a lot of us have. When you take off the thermostat cover, you see two thermostats connected together with a jumper wire. One is for your working temp of 130 degrees which is of course self-resetting, the other a manual-reset 180 degree safety in case the 130 degree fails.Go to Home Depot and get thier LOWER SIDE home water heater thermostat. It fits like a glove beside the 2 existing thermostats.**Note -- the fact that it is for 220v vs. 12v is irrelevant, it is a SPST switch, nothing more. It is more than sufficient to send the "time to light burner" signal to the computer/circuit board. This circuit carries no actual load, it is just an on/off sensor for the computer.Pull the incoming wire off the 130 degree thermostat, wire it to the new one. Likewise, make a jumper wire to go to the other side of the 130 degree tstat. Slightly grind the tab on the other side of the 130tstat then solder (the grinding gives the solder something to stick to)Solder on the jumper wire. Attaching it here retains the 180 degree safety in-line with the new tstat. DO NOT disconnect both red wires and run to the new thermostat. By doing so you bypass the safety.

Cool 'mod'Why can't mfg. do something so simple :S

Wow, I've wanted an adjustable thermostat on the water heater for years! Do you have a part # for the Home Depot thermostat or is it pretty straightforward which one to get? How is the new thermostat held in place?Looks like the thermostat is HD model# 15417 SKU# 258417

Electric water heater tstats are pretty universal.Makes me glad I have an old-school mechanical tstat on my water heater. 2000 was probably one of the last years you could get something like that.I really like it because I can set the thermostat to its lowest setting and use straight hot water to shower.

Nice idea, does the cover still fit?

dadwolf2 wrote:Wow, I've wanted an adjustable thermostat on the water heater for years! Do you have a part # for the Home Depot thermostat or is it pretty straightforward which one to get? How is the new thermostat held in place?Looks like the thermostat is HD model# 15417 SKU# 258417Sorry, I should have put a clicky in for the TStat.Home Repo TStatFitment--k, so you're going to think I'm a little nuts, but it fit SOOO close that all I did was run a couple screws against the top edge to compression-fit it.Also - to make it more accurate, I'm going to run down to Radio Shack and get some heat-conductive goo to put on the back of it. It shuts off about 15 degrees hotter than set right now.

How to make your Water Heater adjustable for $8.97

pjay9
Explorer
Sep 08, 2015
Is there a way to have the WH start sooner when the water starts to cool down? It has always been a delay to get it to go and a waste of water to get it cooler in the tank.

Maybe the new Tstat is more sensative..what have you found? THX
pjay9
Explorer
Nov 18, 2014
OB thx!
Old-Biscuit
Explorer III
Nov 16, 2014
pjay9 wrote:
1.If the high cutoff is 180 on factory tstat, then the low at 140 is what the water heats to and the 180 is strickly for safety! Is that right?

2. if you wanted the water to be hotter say 170, then the adjustable would allow this and the 180 factory would not engage...this seems a silly question but is for clarification?

3. if I read this right you have bypassed and subed the adjustable for the 140 low cutoff from factory...right?

Thx for your answers. Hope your weekend is going well.

1) YES-----Normal t-stat operates heating...if it fails high temp t-stat trips power to shut down heating

2)& 3) YES----the 'adjustable' t-stat replaces the normal but high temp is still in place and wired to trip power if new adjustable fails
pjay9
Explorer
Nov 16, 2014
1.If the high cutoff is 180 on factory tstat, then the low at 140 is what the water heats to and the 180 is strickly for safety! Is that right?

2. if you wanted the water to be hotter say 170, then the adjustable would allow this and the 180 factory would not engage...this seems a silly question but is for clarification?

3. if I read this right you have bypassed and subed the adjustable for the 140 low cutoff from factory...right?

Thx for your answers. Hope your weekend is going well.
Canadianxplorer
Explorer
Nov 16, 2014
Hey Guys,

I know this is an older topic, but I read about this in the spring because I was unhappy with my new trailers hot water and length of shower.

I had sold my old trailer which had a temperature adjustment lever and we could turn it hot enough to extend the shower(for the wife..haha)

I have both t-stats(electric and gas) so I had to find another place for the adjustable stat. I put mine on the back side of the tank and it worked great all summer. I also modded my buddy's trailer in the same way. Once his wife heard the shower could be better, I was stuck!

I will try to post some pics, just might take awhile.

Thanks for the original idea!
foolofsand
Explorer
Sep 06, 2014
great article. i have purchased the lower water heater part and ready to go. just one problem...i cant find any of the thermal conductive epoxy anywhere. any ideas? thanks
dennis1
Explorer
Apr 22, 2014
Isn't that what cold water is for. Use 6 gallons of hot water and 3-4 gallon of cold water and take and long shower using about 10 gallons of water.
cewillis
Explorer
Apr 13, 2014
Reddog1 wrote:
I installed one of these on my water heater in about 2010. I have had no problem with it at all.

Yeah, mine's worked perfectly since 2008.
msiminoff
Explorer II
Apr 12, 2014
I copied what Boatycall did, except for rotating the thermostat 180º to make the wiring a tad easier.

I ground off the aluminum "ears" and removed some material from the back so that the thermostat would sit flat on the tank surface.

The thermostat is adhered to the tank with thermally conductive epoxy.

I used a t-nut & screw in the cover to apply light pressure on the thermostat while the epoxy cured. This also ensured that the thermostat was in the correct location and centered in the cover opening.

The thermostats for the 12V & 120V are also mounted on the tank, but inside the camper.

Thank you again Boatycall for sharing this cool mod'!!!
Cheers
-Mark
Reddog1
Explorer II
Apr 12, 2014
cewillis wrote:
And there's this for Atwood water heaters.
(available cheaper at other places, but not as cheap as the HD one)
I installed one of these on my water heater in about 2010. I have had no problem with it at all. My Atwood is gas only, with an igniter. I think the adjustably stat cost about $12, and took less than 10 minutes to install. A very simple install.

Wayne

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How to make your Water Heater adjustable for $8.97

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