On Dec 10, 7:44*am, Kurt Ullman wrote:
* * Can you turn off the water to a water heater and not turn off the
pilot. I have a water heater where you have to physically light the
pilot and it is a pain to restart when we get back from vacations
(especially when we get back in during the night). So, I was wondering,
any reason I can't turn off the water supply to the filled heater (so if
it goes bad the damage is limited) while keeping the pilot on?

The only way I would do that is if you also turn the control to
"pilot" so that the heater doesn't kick on. Otherwise when the heater
kicks on and the valves are shut, it'll pressurize the tank and
possibly release the T/P valve, thus causing the exact problem you're
trying to avoid

Personally I would turn the heater to "pilot" and shut off ALL the
water to the house and drain it down that way if the furnace fails
while I'm gone it won't burst any pipes. I wouldn't be worried about
getting all the water out of the heater, *some* is good enough. I say
this because the last time my house was unoccupied for more than a day
or two my furnace apparently failed to light at some point during that
time period and I came home to a 45 degree house (I think I had the
thermostat set at 55) if it'd been below freezing, and I hadn't shut
the water off, it coulda been ugly. Of course that has never happened
since, Murphy's Law says that if a random, rare failure occurs it will
happen of course when you're not around to correct it.

nate