Turning off the water to a gas hot water heater for a week or so at a time
 

Hi everyone,

We have an older house we're fixing up and trying to sell, but being
we only visit the house on the weekends we're thinking of shutting off
the water at the street during the week. This house has a gas hot
water heater, so I wasn't sure if shutting off the water would cause
any problems with the water heater, which is about 3-4 years old.

The reason we want to turn the water off is because for one, the house
is old and I don't want a leak to pop-up when we're not there, and
secondly we're afraid some folks in the neighborhood might take water
from the outside faucet because I've seen them doing this to other
houses.

Thanks for any advice.

Alex

Turning off the water to a gas hot water heater for a week or so at a time
 

On Feb 12, 10:02 am, "Alex" wrote:
Hi everyone,

We have an older house we're fixing up and trying to sell, but being
we only visit the house on the weekends we're thinking of shutting off
the water at the street during the week. This house has a gas hot
water heater, so I wasn't sure if shutting off the water would cause
any problems with the water heater, which is about 3-4 years old.

The reason we want to turn the water off is because for one, the house
is old and I don't want a leak to pop-up when we're not there, and
secondly we're afraid some folks in the neighborhood might take water
from the outside faucet because I've seen them doing this to other
houses.

Thanks for any advice.

Alex


You can turn the water off and it shouldn't cause any problems. It
is possible though that a cup or two of water could emerge from the
TPR valve, because when water is heated, it expands. With many
systems, the small amount of expansion is taken up by the municipal
water system, giving it a place to go. By closing off the valve, that
cup of water may emerge from the TPR valve, unless you have an
expansion tank in the system.

One obvious solution is to turn the water heater to the pilot setting,
which will also save you energy cost during the week it's off.

Turning off the water to a gas hot water heater for a week or so at a time
 

Turning off the water to a gas hot water heater for a week or so at a time
 

On Feb 12, 9:17 am, "Pop`" wrote:
wrote:
On Feb 12, 10:02 am, "Alex" wrote:
Hi everyone,

We have an older house we're fixing up and trying to sell, but being
we only visit the house on the weekends we're thinking of shutting
off the water at the street during the week. This house has a gas
hot water heater, so I wasn't sure if shutting off the water would
cause any problems with the water heater, which is about 3-4 years
old.

The reason we want to turn the water off is because for one, the
house is old and I don't want a leak to pop-up when we're not there,
and secondly we're afraid some folks in the neighborhood might take
water from the outside faucet because I've seen them doing this to
other houses.

Thanks for any advice.

Alex

You can turn the water off and it shouldn't cause any problems. It
is possible though that a cup or two of water could emerge from the
TPR valve, because when water is heated, it expands. With many
systems, the small amount of expansion is taken up by the municipal
water system, giving it a place to go. By closing off the valve, that
cup of water may emerge from the TPR valve, unless you have an
expansion tank in the system.

One obvious solution is to turn the water heater to the pilot setting,
which will also save you energy cost during the week it's off.

But ... if a leak develops anywhere and enough water drains from the tank,
it'll ruin it pretty quickly. Best to turn it to pilot of OFF if electric
when it's not needed. Saves fuel, too.


Thanks... I've never worked with a gas water heater, so I didn't know
there was such a setting as 'pilot'. I'll do that.. We mainly need
heated water when cleaning, but for most general tasks cool water is
okay.

Take care --

Alex

Turning off the water to a gas hot water heater for a week or so at a time
 

"Alex" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Feb 12, 9:17 am, "Pop`" wrote:
wrote:
On Feb 12, 10:02 am, "Alex" wrote:
Hi everyone,

We have an older house we're fixing up and trying to sell, but being
we only visit the house on the weekends we're thinking of shutting
off the water at the street during the week. This house has a gas
hot water heater, so I wasn't sure if shutting off the water would
cause any problems with the water heater, which is about 3-4 years
old.

The reason we want to turn the water off is because for one, the
house is old and I don't want a leak to pop-up when we're not there,
and secondly we're afraid some folks in the neighborhood might take
water from the outside faucet because I've seen them doing this to
other houses.

Thanks for any advice.

Alex

You can turn the water off and it shouldn't cause any problems. It
is possible though that a cup or two of water could emerge from the
TPR valve, because when water is heated, it expands. With many
systems, the small amount of expansion is taken up by the municipal
water system, giving it a place to go. By closing off the valve, that
cup of water may emerge from the TPR valve, unless you have an
expansion tank in the system.

One obvious solution is to turn the water heater to the pilot setting,
which will also save you energy cost during the week it's off.

But ... if a leak develops anywhere and enough water drains from the
tank,
it'll ruin it pretty quickly. Best to turn it to pilot of OFF if
electric
when it's not needed. Saves fuel, too.


Thanks... I've never worked with a gas water heater, so I didn't know
there was such a setting as 'pilot'. I'll do that.. We mainly need
heated water when cleaning, but for most general tasks cool water is
okay.

On mine, there isn't. I turn it to "vacation" when I am away with the water
turned off. So far no problem.

Turning off the water to a gas hot water heater for a week or so at a time
 

Since the inlet and outlet are at the top of the tank, and there would be no
inlet for air, how would a leak "anywhere" drain the tank?

--
Steve Barker


"Pop`" wrote in message
news:uy%zh.800$hp4.470@trnddc02...
wrote:
On Feb 12, 10:02 am, "Alex" wrote:
Hi everyone,

We have an older house we're fixing up and trying to sell, but being
we only visit the house on the weekends we're thinking of shutting
off the water at the street during the week. This house has a gas
hot water heater, so I wasn't sure if shutting off the water would
cause any problems with the water heater, which is about 3-4 years
old.

The reason we want to turn the water off is because for one, the
house is old and I don't want a leak to pop-up when we're not there,
and secondly we're afraid some folks in the neighborhood might take
water from the outside faucet because I've seen them doing this to
other houses.

Thanks for any advice.

Alex


You can turn the water off and it shouldn't cause any problems. It
is possible though that a cup or two of water could emerge from the
TPR valve, because when water is heated, it expands. With many
systems, the small amount of expansion is taken up by the municipal
water system, giving it a place to go. By closing off the valve, that
cup of water may emerge from the TPR valve, unless you have an
expansion tank in the system.

One obvious solution is to turn the water heater to the pilot setting,
which will also save you energy cost during the week it's off.

But ... if a leak develops anywhere and enough water drains from the tank,
it'll ruin it pretty quickly. Best to turn it to pilot of OFF if electric
when it's not needed. Saves fuel, too.

Turning off the water to a gas hot water heater for a week or so at a time
 

Steve Barker wrote:
Since the inlet and outlet are at the top of the tank, and there
would be no inlet for air, how would a leak "anywhere" drain the tank?


"Pop`" wrote in message
news:uy%zh.800$hp4.470@trnddc02...
wrote:
On Feb 12, 10:02 am, "Alex" wrote:
Hi everyone,

We have an older house we're fixing up and trying to sell, but
being we only visit the house on the weekends we're thinking of
shutting off the water at the street during the week. This house
has a gas hot water heater, so I wasn't sure if shutting off the
water would cause any problems with the water heater, which is
about 3-4 years old.

The reason we want to turn the water off is because for one, the
house is old and I don't want a leak to pop-up when we're not
there, and secondly we're afraid some folks in the neighborhood
might take water from the outside faucet because I've seen them
doing this to other houses.

Thanks for any advice.

Alex


You can turn the water off and it shouldn't cause any problems. It
is possible though that a cup or two of water could emerge from the
TPR valve, because when water is heated, it expands. With many
systems, the small amount of expansion is taken up by the municipal
water system, giving it a place to go. By closing off the valve,
that cup of water may emerge from the TPR valve, unless you have an
expansion tank in the system.

One obvious solution is to turn the water heater to the pilot
setting, which will also save you energy cost during the week it's
off.

But ... if a leak develops anywhere and enough water drains from the
tank, it'll ruin it pretty quickly. Best to turn it to pilot of OFF
if electric when it's not needed. Saves fuel, too.

Any slowly dripping faucet, water softener during clean cycle, kids turn on
an outdoor faucet, pipe freezes & breaks, etc etc etc etc etc etc.. It's
not common, but there are a lot of possibilities.

Turning off the water to a gas hot water heater for a week or so at a time
 

"Steve Barker" writes:
Since the inlet and outlet are at the top of the tank, and there would be no
inlet for air, how would a leak "anywhere" drain the tank?

The inlet is a dip tube that actually extends most of the way to the
bottom of the tank, so a water leak in the cold-water side of the house
plumbing plus an air leak higher up in the hot-water plumbing could
siphon almost all the water out of the tank.

And, of course, the tank itself (or its drain valve) could spring a
leak.

Dave