My recursive problem

[seanfmglobal]

So I'm trying to find the height of my Binary Search Tree using a recursive method. Here is my code for my Tree data structure

package Structures;

import java.util.NoSuchElementException;

public class ArrayBinarySearchTree<T extends Comparable<T>> implements BinarySearchTreeADT<T>
	{
		//private Object[] dataStorage = new Object[10]; use this
		private BinaryTreeNode<T> root = new BinaryTreeNode<T>();
		private int counter = 0;

		//method complete
		@Override
		public void addElement(T element)
			{
				if (counter == 0)
					{
						BinaryTreeNode<T> node = new BinaryTreeNode<T>(element);
						root = node;
						counter++;
					}
				else
					{
						addHelp(root, element);
						
					}
			}
		
		//method complete
		@Override
		public boolean contains(T targetElement)
			{
				BinaryTreeNode<T> node = new BinaryTreeNode<T>();
				node = root;
				boolean temp = recursiveContainsSearch(node, targetElement);
				return temp;
			}

		//method complete
		@Override
		public T find(T targetElement)
			{
				BinaryTreeNode<T> node = new BinaryTreeNode<T>();
				node = root;
				if(!recursiveContainsSearch(node, targetElement)) {
					throw new NoSuchElementException("The element "+targetElement+" does not excist in this tree");
				} else {
				return recursiveElementFind(node, targetElement);
				}
			}

		//method complete
		@Override
		public T findMax()
			{
				BinaryTreeNode<T> node = new BinaryTreeNode<T>();
				node = root;
				return recursiveFindMax(node);
			}

		//method complete
		@Override
		public T findMin()
			{
				BinaryTreeNode<T> node = new BinaryTreeNode<T>();
				node = root;
				return recursiveFindMin(node);
			}

		//method complete
		@Override
		public boolean isEmpty()
			{
				if (counter == 0)
					return true;
				return false;
			}

		
		@Override
		public Iterator<T> iteratorLevelOrder()
			{
				// TODO Auto-generated method stub
				return null;
			}

		
		@Override
		public Iterator<T> iteratorOrdered()
			{
				// TODO Auto-generated method stub
				return null;
			}

		
		@Override
		public Iterator<T> iteratorPostOrder()
			{
				// TODO Auto-generated method stub
				return null;
			}

		
		@Override
		public Iterator<T> iteratorPreOrdered()
			{
				// TODO Auto-generated method stub
				return null;
			}

		
		@Override
		public T removeElement(T targetElement)
			{
				// TODO Auto-generated method stub
				return null;
			}

		
		@Override
		public T removeMax()
			{
				// TODO Auto-generated method stub
				return null;
			}

		
		@Override
		public T removeMin()
			{
				// TODO Auto-generated method stub
				return null;
			}

		
		@Override
		public int size()
			{
				return counter;
			}
		
		
			//helper methods
			private void addHelp(BinaryTreeNode<T> n, T element) {
					if((element.compareTo(n.getElement()) <= 0) && (n.getLeft() != null))
						addHelp(n.getLeft(), element);
					if((element.compareTo(n.getElement()) > 0) && (n.getRight() != null))
						addHelp(n.getRight(), element);
					if((element.compareTo(n.getElement()) <= 0) && (n.getLeft() == null)) {
						BinaryTreeNode<T> node = new BinaryTreeNode<T>(element);
						n.setLeft(node);
						counter++;
					}
					if((element.compareTo(n.getElement()) > 0) && (n.getRight() == null)) {
						BinaryTreeNode<T> node = new BinaryTreeNode<T>(element);
						n.setRight(node);
						counter++;
					}
					
				}
				
				
			//use to build array
			public void buildArray() {
					
				}
			
			public int heightTester() {
				BinaryTreeNode<T> node = new BinaryTreeNode<T>();
				node = root;
				return recursiveHeight(node);
			}
				
			public int recursiveHeight(BinaryTreeNode<T> n) {
				if((n.getLeft() == null) && (n.getRight() == null)) // HERE IS WHERE THE PROBLEM LIES!!!!!!!
					return 0;
				int left = 0;
				int right = 0;
				if(n.getLeft() != null)
					return recursiveHeight(n.getLeft()) + 1;
				if(n.getRight() != null)
					return recursiveHeight(n.getLeft()) + 1;
				if(left < right)
					return right;
				return left;
			}
			
			//helper for "public boolean contains(T targetElement)"
			private boolean recursiveContainsSearch(BinaryTreeNode<T> n, T element) {
					if((element.compareTo(n.getElement()) < 0) && (n.getLeft() != null))
						return recursiveContainsSearch(n.getLeft(), element);
					if((element.compareTo(n.getElement()) > 0) && (n.getRight() != null))
						return recursiveContainsSearch(n.getRight(), element);
					if((element.compareTo(n.getElement()) == 0))
						return true;
					if((element.compareTo(n.getElement()) < 0) && n.getLeft() == null)
						return false;
					else if((element.compareTo(n.getElement()) > 0) && n.getRight() == null)
						return false;
					return false;//should be no other options
					
			}
				
			//helper for "public T find(T targetElement)"
			private T recursiveElementFind(BinaryTreeNode<T> n, T element) {
					if((element.compareTo(n.getElement()) < 0) && n.getLeft() != null)
						return recursiveElementFind(n.getLeft(), element);
					if((element.compareTo(n.getElement()) > 0) && n.getRight() != null)
						return recursiveElementFind(n.getRight(), element);
					if(element.compareTo(n.getElement()) == 0)
						return n.getElement();
					return null;
				}
		
			//helper for "public T findMin()"
			private T recursiveFindMin(BinaryTreeNode<T> n) {
				if(n.getLeft() != null)
					return recursiveFindMin(n.getLeft());
				return n.getElement();
			}
			
			//helper for "public T findMax()"
			private T recursiveFindMax(BinaryTreeNode<T> n) {
				if(n.getRight() != null)
					return recursiveFindMax(n.getRight());
				return n.getElement();
			}
			
			
			
	}	//end class

So when trying to find the height of my tree using the heightTester() method which uses the recursiveHeight(BinaryTreeNode<T> n) method in the line that calls the
recursiveHeight method it should pass the root node to the method. Here is where this gets very weird. Running debug on Eclipse I see that sometimes it actually does pass the node
and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it makes it in the recursiveHeight method and recursively loops once but then I get a null pointer exception at the line of code

if((n.getLeft() == null) && (n.getRight() == null))

Here is the client code im using to test my tree

package projectmain;





import Structures.ArrayBinarySearchTree;


public class TesterMain
	{
		public static void main(String[] args) {
		
			ArrayBinarySearchTree<Integer> tester = new ArrayBinarySearchTree<Integer>();
			
			tester.addElement(20);
			tester.addElement(15);
			tester.addElement(13);
			tester.addElement(14);
			tester.addElement(25);
			tester.addElement(33);
			tester.addElement(39);
			tester.addElement(21);
			tester.addElement(17);
			tester.addElement(31);
			
			System.out.println(tester.size());
			System.out.println(tester.heightTester());
			
			
			
			
		}
	}

This should produce the tree which looks like


20
/ \
15 25
/ \ / \
13 17 21 33
\ / \
14 31 39

Thanks in advance for all your help.