I have to agree that the last thing that manufacturers want is for you to actually know what is wrong. Water heaters have become such "throw away" items these days. Greg, I do like your idea though. I have thought about that same setup many times for my own unit at home.
I've often thought about running a second circuit to mine and wiring it so that both elements can operate at the same time for faster recovery. I talked to a plumber friend about this and his response was that you really don't want to mess with altering the listed design for legal reasons. I guess that I can see his point there.
Safety issues with water heaters and subsequent failures have become such "lawyer candy" that I'd be worried that any field modifications that I made would come back to bite me if there was ever a need for an insurance claim.
