Water heater sits beside a washing machine, the drain hose of which cracked while in operation, spraying the water heater. Ran out of hot water a day or so later, so I suspect it quit working shortly thereafter. Is this something that is likely catastrophic, or is there a possible diy fix? Regular electric heater, not tankless.
The water heater is almost 20 years old, so it’s not worth a service call, but a diy fix would be cheaper than a new unit.
Sounds like some reset switch/procedure is all that is needed.
A water heater is about the simplest appliance in the house.
Tank, heater(s), thermostat(s). That’s pretty much it.
So, it’s most likely that the thermostat got soaked, and ruined. You can inspect them by removing the access covers.
Make sure you know what you are doing - there is high voltage right behind those covers, and if there is moisture, it will present a significant shock hazard.
Are you handy with a multimeter? If you are not comfortable with a multimeter and poking around with electricity, STOP READING NOW.
Your water heater may have one or two heating elements in it. If there is only one, then it will have one thermostat controlling it. If it is the two element type, then it will have one thermostat near the top and one thermostat near the bottom, one for each element.
The first thing to do is make sure that power is actually getting to the water heater (you did check the breaker, didn’t you?). From there, just check down the thermostat connections. Most thermostats have a reset switch, so you might just need to push in the switch. Check that you have voltage on the other side of the reset switch, then make sure you have voltage at the thermostat, and then check the voltage at the heating element.
If your heater has two thermostats, just repeat those checks for the lower thermostat.
Somewhere along that path you should find out where the voltage isn’t getting through.
You might see if you can find a manual on the internet: there are a huge number of manuals available for free–but less so for 20 year old products.
Before you do the testing previous posters suggest make sure it has dried out.
Safety First! This is 240 volts AC, and is not to be screwed with.
If you are not completely comfortable with anything that’s been suggested, my advice would be to call a trusted professional. Hopefully a trusted pro would not sell you a new water heater if none was actually required.
I agree, it’s better to DIY than to get ripped off. It’s also an awful lot better to be alive and well than otherwise.
Good luck.
A new water heater might be cheaper (in terms of operating cost) than fixing this one.
This site says:
So I would ask for a free quote.
1] A 20-year-old hot water heater is about due for replacement … and new ones are more energy efficient so don’t forget to include that in your cost analysis …
2] There should be a reset button under one of the covers … TURN OFF THE BREAKER, open the cover and look for a red button, press it, make sure everything is DRY under these covers, put covers back and switch the breaker back on … see if that gets you hot water in an hour or so … if it works, you’re fine … if not, see 1] above …
Pro Tip - always used new feeder pipes with your new hot water heater, using the old ones is bad economy when they start leaking and ruining your new hot water heater …
Pro Tip #2 - Check your anode rod every few years … this web page explains what that’s for and where it’s located: “Water Heater Anode Rod Replacement
& Installation Tips” …
Whatever has gone with a simple electric heater can be fixed for a lot less DIY. A new heating element is typically $10-$20. A new thermostat can be had for $15.
Just don’t screw with it unless the power is off. What I would do is, with the power off, press the reset. Try again.
If that doesn’t work, use a multimeter, with the power off, to check the resistance on each heating element. If each one isn’t the about the right number of ohms (depends on the element but it’s easy to find out), replace it.
If the heating elements check out, it’s the thermostat. Google and find out the equivalent thermostat and replace it.
The only time to replace an electric water heater is :
a. Upgrade to tankless or natural gas
b. The tank is leaking
There are other forms of water heater… Solar, which means it takes the suns heat to warm the water, which doesn’t work if its cloudy, or the air is too cold and cools things faster than the sun warms it.
OR a heat pump with heat absorber above ground, or even underground (where the dense material has a lot of heat to offer.) Its like reverse cycle air conditioning … or like the warm outside of a refridgerator/freezer… Its a heat pump that pushes the heat from the cooler place to the warmer place…
We’ll need to buy an 1-1/2" socket and 1/2" drive breaker bar … they sell special designed ones for just this purpose but the cheap ones don’t work … and after 20 years immersed in water, we’ll probably need a cheater pipe and a helper … we’ll need two big pipe wrenches as well … $50 in parts, $100 in tooling … how much value do we put on our time? …
This all assumes the drain valve works as intended … not guarantied … twenty years of scale almost always plugs the thing up … we’re looking at a full day’s labor …
Haha … I’ve moved old water heaters and had the sub-floor come up with it … but after twenty years, we’re due for a new bathroom floor as well … maybe a beam or two needs bracing … both the plumbing and wiring are out-of-date …
There’s a slight chance this DIY project will cost $50 … there’s a slight chance the OP will need to refinance his home … most likely is somewhere in between … for this amount of headaches and pains-in-the-ass, I want the OP to have a brand new water heater when he’s done …
Well, thanks for the input, everyone. I did not personally have a multimeter, but a neighbor did. When I took off the cover, it seemed pretty obvious that the top thermostat was fried, and that was confirmed, and turned out to be the only casualty. So that was a pretty easy replacement.
Kinda puzzling how my wife insisted on being near the breaker box while I was working on it, but that’s another story. . . .
She’s your safety supervisor. 
Glad you got it fixed!
This is called a “lock-out” I believe … if we go to work on a piece of equipment, first we turn off the breaker and then put a padlock on the breaker box where only we have the key … that way someone else won’t come along, think the breaker should be on … and flip it while we’re tied up in some unholy voltage … ouch …
An easily angered wife with a shot gun works too …
Many years ago in my misspent youth, I was trying to replace one of the elements in our water heater. Thought the breaker was off. Wrong breaker! I started with a 6 inch common screwdriver and ended with a handle and two inches of shaft. After a quick change of undies, I managed to finish the job after shutting off the main feed for the entire house!
Assuming she still wants to be your wife and hasn’t looked at your browsing history lately. Just don’t question the tripling of your life insurance policy.