I have a 60 Gallon Giant electric hot water heater. The bottom element has burnt out. I tried to replace it this past weekend, but ran into a snag when I tried to remove the old element. Basically, the element looks to be held into place by 4 large bolts (which are easily removable), but I ran into trouble when I tried to remove it because it won’t budge! It looks like a steel plate, with a plastic rectangular piece on the front of it where the hot wire connectors attach.
I thought that I could simply pull this piece out and the element would be attached to it, but it won’t move and I don’t want to apply too much pressure to it for fear of breaking it. The tank is only 3 years old, but of course, I can’t find the receipt for it so the warranty is no good 
Does anyone have any experience with replacing these elements? Do I need a special tool to reef the old one out of there? The manual is of no help of course because it just says ‘remove element’…
Thanks in advance!
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
this probably isn’t what you want to hear but I too had a problem removing the element in my heater mine is an A.O.Smith and they are very tough. I finally had to call a service guy out who told me that due to manufacturing saftey codes those elements are virtually impossible for the average homeowner to remove and for my heater a special tool available only to the tradespeople was needed to remove the element
In your question you did not mentioned make of your "Water heater". That might have helpful to pin point your problem. I hope you must have confirmed that element has gone bad. If you are sure about it, better first purchase the new element from the manufacturer. By doing so you will come to know the design of the element. Usually it has a packing to prevent the leakage of water. As you mentioned you are worried about applying the pressure but as it holds the hole assembly tightly and temperature goes high, it is quite possible that some more pressure may require to remove the element. But before doing that you are applying the pressure on right point. The new element in your hand will give you an idea about it.
Wish you good luck………..!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Like Deepk said – by having the new heating element in hand will give you volumes of info…
Did you drain the tank ? ? ? ?
ALWAYS Always save your receipts – put in file next to IRS
good answer Deepk