On Feb 6, 8:08 pm, Al Bundy wrote:
"Dugie" wrote :





Hi,

We're looking after a house which has been vacant for about 6 months,
and will be vacant for at least a few more. We check it every 2nd or
3rd day.

Nova Scotia, Canada, climate in winter is cold, often well below
freezing, sometimes down to -20C or lower (about -6F). 5 year old hot
air oil furnace set at about 68F, serviced this summer.

Two months ago, we turned off the main water supply valve, left all
taps open and water drained, including outside taps, toilet tank
empty. I forgot, so power flowed to the electric hot water tank until
last week, and the tank was full.

Question: about draining the hot water tank, which now has the power
supply breaker off:

Drain water, or leave full?

If drained, will the tank be more likely to rust from inside?
If full, and the furnace fails, I suppose the tank may freeze and
crack. If partly filled, what happens?
Currently it's almost completely drained.

Tank is in heated basement, inlet & outlet pipes go upward. The
basement laundry tub valves are open.

Thanks!
Dugie

As mentioned, for leaving it vacant that long is a $ waste. Are there not
places there that "winterize" houses so utils can be shut off?

Most of the repo I've looked at have everything off with labels on
everything that it's been winterized, not to turn water main on and not
to turn hot water heater on until it main is turned on and it refills.
They use non-toxic antifreeze like that used in RV's.

I believe it was $75-100US which easily pays for itself in a month. But
this was in the US midsouth. As far north as you are, not sure how the
plumbing pipe in the walls would handle it. A service that winterizes
would know the ins & outs.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

If it's unoccupied for a long time, I'd set the heat down to 50 or
else winterize it and turn off the heat. Winterizing eliminates the
problem of a heating system failing, power loss, etc. Never heard
of a vacant house set to 68. I have mine setback to 60 at night, and
I live here! If I'm going away for 10 days, I set it down to 45-50.