On Sun, 20 Jan 2008 18:31:04 -0800 (PST),
wrote:

On Jan 20, 7:50 pm, wrote:
On Sun, 20 Jan 2008 16:57:49 -0800 (PST),
wrote:

On Jan 20, 6:45 pm, wrote:
On Sun, 20 Jan 2008 16:13:44 -0800 (PST),
wrote:

Do I have to shut off my hot water tank? I never did that before. How
do I turn that thing off? How to get the water out?

You dont have to drain the water heater, but shut off the gas or
electric. Electric should be a breaker in main panel. For gas, there
is a control on the heater, shut it to OFF.

My water heater is gas. If I shut the gas off, my kitchen will be
cold. I still have some space heaters.

I didn't tell you to shut the gas off for the whole house, just shut
the water heater off. There's a knob on it that says ON - PILOT -
OFF. Turn it to OFF. If it is an electronic model it wont says
"pilot". It may have a removable tin cover over it. Look near bottom
of the tank.

I checked there. It is a new model Rheem Ruud. Yes, it says ON - Pilot
- OFF. I turned it around and it did not allow me to go to OFF. So, I
turned it back to PILOT.
Behind it there is another switch on the gas line. I turned that to
off. My gas oven still operates.



If you dont drain the tank, you can probably just leave it on.
Electric heaters are the ones that can blow an element if the water
gets cut.

Now I turned it off. Should I turn it back on?

I must tell you this: If you are a homeowner, (or even a renter) you
really should know how and where to shut off water main, hot water,
gas main and the shutoff for all gas appliances, and how to shut off
electric power. You want to know this stuff BEFORE an emergency, not
after.

You are right. I bought the joint and never met the former owner. I
have to find one soul who explains these things to me. I read a lot on
the Internet but in praxis everything looks different than on these
pages.


You must have a friend, relative or neighbor that is somewhat
handy to show you this stuff if you cant figure it out yourself.

No, I am alone, never had a dad, no older brother, and any handy
friends lives thousand miles away. My neighborhood is rather deserted.
The only other guy around here is a 90 year old man. I am afraid to
ask him as he could die going out in these temperature. The other one
is a non-American who asks me to pay him 150 Dollars the hour. And
then he comes over, does a lousy job, and I hardly understands what he
says.


Everyone over the age of about 10 who lives in a house should know
this stuff, males and females. In an emergency everyone should know
what to do, as well as how to operate a fire extinguisher.

I don't have any. A fire extinguisher is across the dirt street but I
wouldn't know how to operate it.

Here, I found a weblink with pictures of a water heater.http://www.exothink.com/Pages/waterhtr.html
On the top photo the control is on the tank, temperature knob is on
the front. The black thing on the top of that control is the ON OFF
knob. Just turn it to OFF. like turning a faucet.

Mine is a Rheem RUUD. It's modern and new. But it does not allow me to
turn it off completely, just back to pilot. I had hired a professional
plumber to install it but he does not work today and tomorrow.

Again: I turned the gas handle of the gas line to the tank to off. I
turned the handle of the gas tank to pilot as it does not allow me to
turn it off completely.

Gene.



Just so you know, you shut off the HOT water above the water heater.
Normally there is a valve above it, unless someone plumbed it without
one. If it's a hot pipe that broke, shut that valve off and you can
still have cold water. The hot pipes usually break first because
there is less oxygen in hot water. (or is it less oxygen?).

I got a brand new Rheem Ruud Water heater this summer for 1000 bucks.
But it has so many handles, I haven't yet figures out where the gas
can be shut of on that thing.

Gene

I have straw outside my crawl space home to warm the pipes. I had
water dripping from the faucets so that the pipes don't freeze. I
opened the closets underneath the sinks. I had a space heater blowing
warm heat at the pipes, nevertheless they FROZE and bursted today.

I don't think that I get a plummer before Tuesday.

I shut the main water valve off.

Now, my question is: As I am living alone, would you shut the main
water valve off every day before you go to bed and empty all pipes and
open the main water valve the next morning to protect the pipes?

Is there anything that speaks against shutting the main water switch
off every day?

What I am thinking is this: If the plummer is fixing the pipes on
Tuesday, it might cost me dearly. Then he goes, the next day, they
freeze again up on me, etc. And I have to fix them again, and again,
and again, till it is finally spring.

What do you think?

Gene


You're fine. On the PILOT setting you only have the pilot light. But
you shut off the gas to the heater. Just leave it till the plumber
comes. Ask the plumber to give you a tour of the house for shutoffs.
I'm sure he will. Take notes when he does.

You already know where the water main shutoff is. You are catching on
with the water heater, and hopefully you know how to shut off your
electric power. Ask the plumber where your gas main shutoff is.