Major Water Heater problems!

[slim]

Reliance Water Heater
Model 5 40 20RS 960
Ser. K981 770 71

This unit has been acting up in the last yr. and now has me scared to death about blowing up!
Seems about a yr ago, even on the low setting sometimes the water gets so hot the water smokes coming out of the pipes, i have turned down the temp. control to its lowest setting and then the unit worked fine for 6 months, but now is acting up again!
It got so hot it was scary so i turned off the breaker and drained all hot water, but then when i turned braker on it was steaming agin and then for the first tme ever kicked off the re-set button!
But i am concerned the unit may blow up?
So the temp control seems to hang or is now hung on super hot?
Should i first replace the the upper high temp thermostat or the lower or both? Dont have any equipment to check!
Thank you, very much!

[ApplianceJunk]

I don't repair water heaters myself, sorry.

But being you said that you don't have any test equipment to check things you may want to get a professional out there to look at it.

Wish I could be more helpful.

[Mike123]

Make sure the blow-over pipe is directed safely! Maybe the relief valve is stuck it sounds like it should have opened already. I know that doesn't solve the original problem...