I heat my water for washing with natural gas. I have both a tank type
water heater and a tankless water heater. They both sit in the
basement under my living room. I can easily switch to either using one
of them or both of them to heat my water. During the summer the
tankless is sufficient for my needs but not in the winter when the
incoming water is very cold. Does it pay to completely drain the tank
heater during the warmer months of the year when I will not use it or
will it corrode more than with water in it?
Richard

wrote in message
ps.com...
I heat my water for washing with natural gas. I have both a tank type
water heater and a tankless water heater. They both sit in the
basement under my living room. I can easily switch to either using one
of them or both of them to heat my water. During the summer the
tankless is sufficient for my needs but not in the winter when the
incoming water is very cold. Does it pay to completely drain the tank
heater during the warmer months of the year when I will not use it or
will it corrode more than with water in it?
Richard

I'd keep some flow going through the tank so it will not get all icky inside
from sitting. IMO, it would be better to leave the water in it and just
turn the heat off of it.

On Mar 5, 3:39�pm, "Edwin Pawlowski" wrote:
wrote in message

ps.com...

I heat my water for washing *with natural gas. I have both a tank type
water heater and a tankless water heater. They both sit in the
basement under my living room. I can easily switch to either using one
of them or both of them to heat my water. During the summer the
tankless is sufficient for my needs but not in the winter when the
incoming water is very cold. Does it pay to completely drain the tank
heater during the warmer months of the year when I will not use it or
will it corrode more than with water in it?
Richard

I'd keep some flow going through the tank so it will not get all icky inside
from sitting. *IMO, it would be better to leave the water in it and just
turn the heat off of it.

In winter feed water: in from supply, tankless, tank heater, fixtures.

in summewr reverse this so incoming water first goes thru non heated
tank heater : in from supply, tank heater heater off, tankless,
fixtures.

just a few valves can do this easily. I would keep the water flowing
thru that tank at all times

On Mar 5, 5:51 pm, " wrote:
On Mar 5, 3:39?pm, "Edwin Pawlowski" wrote:



wrote in message

ups.com...

I heat my water for washing ?with natural gas. I have both a tank type
water heater and a tankless water heater. They both sit in the
basement under my living room. I can easily switch to either using one
of them or both of them to heat my water. During the summer the
tankless is sufficient for my needs but not in the winter when the
incoming water is very cold. Does it pay to completely drain the tank
heater during the warmer months of the year when I will not use it or
will it corrode more than with water in it?
Richard

I'd keep some flow going through the tank so it will not get all icky inside
from sitting. ?IMO, it would be better to leave the water in it and just
turn the heat off of it.

In winter feed water: in from supply, tankless, tank heater, fixtures.

in summewr reverse this so incoming water first goes thru non heated
tank heater : in from supply, tank heater heater off, tankless,
fixtures.

just a few valves can do this easily. I would keep the water flowing
thru that tank at all times

If my drawings are correct you need 6 valves to do this, in addition
to 6 tees.
Richard

On 5 Mar 2007 08:35:43 -0800, "
wrote:

I heat my water for washing with natural gas. I have both a tank type
water heater and a tankless water heater. They both sit in the
basement under my living room. I can easily switch to either using one
of them or both of them to heat my water. During the summer the
tankless is sufficient for my needs but not in the winter when the
incoming water is very cold. Does it pay to completely drain the tank
heater during the warmer months of the year when I will not use it or
will it corrode more than with water in it?
Richard


I was brought up to speed on my water heater life, by a handy man. He
said stressing out the heater could shorten the life. Example, having
the termistat very high, and letting muck build up in the bottom.

Do you think letting out the water and letting air come in contact
with the inner lining is stress?

Tom @ www.NoCostAds.com

I would drain the tank, and shut off the pilot light. Having water sit will
only allow for the tank to corrode.

--
Roger Shoaf
If you are not part of the solution, you are not dissolved in the solvent.


wrote in message
ps.com...
I heat my water for washing with natural gas. I have both a tank type
water heater and a tankless water heater. They both sit in the
basement under my living room. I can easily switch to either using one
of them or both of them to heat my water. During the summer the
tankless is sufficient for my needs but not in the winter when the
incoming water is very cold. Does it pay to completely drain the tank
heater during the warmer months of the year when I will not use it or
will it corrode more than with water in it?
Richard

On Mar 6, 7:58�pm, "Roger Shoaf" wrote:
I would drain the tank, and shut off the pilot light. *Having water sit will
only allow for the tank to corrode.

--
Roger Shoaf
If you are not part of the solution, you are not dissolved in the solvent.

wrote in message

ps.com...



I heat my water for washing *with natural gas. I have both a tank type
water heater and a tankless water heater. They both sit in the
basement under my living room. I can easily switch to either using one
of them or both of them to heat my water. During the summer the
tankless is sufficient for my needs but not in the winter when the
incoming water is very cold. Does it pay to completely drain the tank
heater during the warmer months of the year when I will not use it or
will it corrode more than with water in it?
Richard- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Rust requires moisture and air. A empty tank is the perfect
environment for fast rusting

Much better to leave water fl;owing with pilot off

On Mar 6, 11:48 pm, " wrote:
On Mar 6, 7:58?pm, "Roger Shoaf" wrote:





I would drain the tank, and shut off the pilot light. ?Having water sit will
only allow for the tank to corrode.

--
Roger Shoaf
If you are not part of the solution, you are not dissolved in the solvent.

wrote in message

ups.com...

I heat my water for washing ?with natural gas. I have both a tank type
water heater and a tankless water heater. They both sit in the
basement under my living room. I can easily switch to either using one
of them or both of them to heat my water. During the summer the
tankless is sufficient for my needs but not in the winter when the
incoming water is very cold. Does it pay to completely drain the tank
heater during the warmer months of the year when I will not use it or
will it corrode more than with water in it?
Richard- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Rust requires moisture and air. A empty tank is the perfect
environment for fast rusting

Much better to leave water fl;owing with pilot off- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -


I think I would keep the conventional water heater inserted BEFORE the
tankless. In the coldest months, have the conventional turned on and
set to the lowest temp. In summer, just turn if off. That will
yield the lowest heat loss from the conventional tank while solving
the incoming cold water problem. I would share the concerns echoed by
those saying draining the tank may be worse as far as promoting rust.

Out of curiousity, how did you wind up with a tankless that is not
adequate to serve your full needs? Using both would seem to be the
worst combo. A tankless costs so much more, it will take a long time
to recover the upfront cost to begin with. And with your setup, you
still have the cost of replacing a regular unit, some heat loss from
it, etc.

wrote in message
oups.com...

Rust requires moisture and air. A empty tank is the perfect
environment for fast rusting

Much better to leave water fl;owing with pilot off

I have some rentals and I had one water heater that I had pulled due to a
bad thermocouple and had sitting for 4 years. I had a failure in another
unit on a Saturday night so I swapped in the one that was sitting.

After the water heater came up to temp, I opened the kitchen tap and did not
get any rusty water. It would seem to me that there is no advantage not to
drain the tank for the OP. If you are worried about any residual dampness
in the tank, fire it up empty until the steam blows off. the inside then
will be dry as a bone.

An annual draining would also have the advantage of evacuating all the
sediment while the chunks are small enough to flow out easily.


--

Roger Shoaf

About the time I had mastered getting the toothpaste back in the tube, then
they come up with this striped stuff.

On Mar 7, 12:44�pm, "Roger Shoaf" wrote:
wrote in message

oups.com...

Rust requires moisture and air. A empty tank is the perfect
environment for fast rusting

Much better to leave water fl;owing with pilot off

I have some rentals and I had one water heater that I had pulled due to a
bad thermocouple and had sitting for 4 years. *I had a failure in another
unit on a Saturday night so I swapped in the one that was sitting.

After the water heater came up to temp, I opened the kitchen tap and did not
get any rusty water. *It would seem to me that there is no advantage not to
drain the tank for the OP. *If you are worried about any residual dampness
in the tank, fire it up empty until the steam blows off. *the inside then
will be dry as a bone.

An annual draining would also have the advantage of evacuating all the
sediment while the chunks are small enough to flow out easily.

--

Roger Shoaf

About the time I had mastered getting the toothpaste back in the tube, then
they come up with this striped stuff.

Firing up a hot water tank with no water can ruin it almost instantly
espically if its electric but even gas!! BAD IDEA!

with tank hot water heater feeding tankless water out of tankless may
be too hot.

If a used tank still had a perfectly intact glass lining then sitting
empty might be OK, once it starts to rust then being waterless may
make it worse

On Tue, 6 Mar 2007 16:58:34 -0800, "Roger Shoaf"
wrote:

I would drain the tank, and shut off the pilot light. Having water sit will
only allow for the tank to corrode.


I saw a documentry about the CSS Hunley. It was removed, and
instantly started corroding faster, so they had to resubmerge under
water again.

I'm guessing air has a higher concentration of O2 than water.

tom @ www.Consolidated-Loans.info

wrote in message
ups.com...

Firing up a hot water tank with no water can ruin it almost instantly
espically if its electric but even gas!! BAD IDEA!


I do not suggest fireing up the tank and then going to lunch, I was
suggesting that if one was concerned about a little residual moisture uou
could light the burner for a couple of minutes while you monitored the unit.

Kind of like setting the cast iron frying pan on the stove after you wash
it.

BTW I agree that on an electric heater it would kill the element running it
dry, but on the gas unit all you would do is warm up the tank a bit. On the
gas you would have to get the sucker screaming hot to do any damage.




--
Roger Shoaf
If you are not part of the solution, you are not dissolved in the solvent.

On Mar 7, 12:36 pm, wrote:
On Mar 6, 11:48 pm, " wrote:



On Mar 6, 7:58?pm, "Roger Shoaf" wrote:

I would drain the tank, and shut off the pilot light. ?Having water sit will
only allow for the tank to corrode.

--
Roger Shoaf
If you are not part of the solution, you are not dissolved in the solvent.

wrote in message

ups.com...

I heat my water for washing ?with natural gas. I have both a tank type
water heater and a tankless water heater. They both sit in the
basement under my living room. I can easily switch to either using one
of them or both of them to heat my water. During the summer the
tankless is sufficient for my needs but not in the winter when the
incoming water is very cold. Does it pay to completely drain the tank
heater during the warmer months of the year when I will not use it or
will it corrode more than with water in it?
Richard- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Rust requires moisture and air. A empty tank is the perfect
environment for fast rusting

Much better to leave water fl;owing with pilot off- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I think I would keep the conventional water heater inserted BEFORE the
tankless. In the coldest months, have the conventional turned on and
set to the lowest temp. In summer, just turn if off. That will
yield the lowest heat loss from the conventional tank while solving
the incoming cold water problem. I would share the concerns echoed by
those saying draining the tank may be worse as far as promoting rust.

Out of curiousity, how did you wind up with a tankless that is not
adequate to serve your full needs? Using both would seem to be the
worst combo. A tankless costs so much more, it will take a long time
to recover the upfront cost to begin with. And with your setup, you
still have the cost of replacing a regular unit, some heat loss from
it, etc.
When I bought the tankless it was summer. It was more than adequate to
heat the water to the temperature to what I like. I live in Albany,
NY. When the winter came the incoming water was much colder. It was
not adequate to give me a hot bath. There was certainly an adequate
amount.

On Mar 7, 8:18�pm, "Roger Shoaf" wrote:
wrote in message

ups.com...

Firing up a hot water tank with no water can ruin it almost instantly
espically if its electric but even gas!! BAD IDEA!

I do not suggest fireing up the tank and then going to lunch, I was
suggesting that if one was concerned about a little residual moisture uou
could light the burner for a couple of minutes while you monitored the unit.

Kind of like setting the cast iron frying pan on the stove after you wash
it.

BTW I agree that on an electric heater it would kill the element running it
dry, but on the gas unit all you would do is warm up the tank a bit. *On the
gas you would have to get the sucker screaming hot to do any damage.

--
Roger Shoaf
If you are not part of the solution, you are not dissolved in the solvent.

might crack the glass lining from the temp change and bring about a
early failure.

Its never a good idea to heat a empty tank!

wrote in message
ups.com...
When I bought the tankless it was summer. It was more than adequate to
heat the water to the temperature to what I like. I live in Albany,
NY. When the winter came the incoming water was much colder. It was
not adequate to give me a hot bath. There was certainly an adequate
amount.


A little trick I use to get hotter water is to reduce the flow rate. Water
can only heat so fast so if you can reduce the volume that is heated then
the temp will go up.

--
Roger Shoaf
If you are not part of the solution, you are not dissolved in the solvent.