I live in a mobilehome and I have a 6 month old GAS water heater
outside. I thought the water heater ONLY comes on when you use the HOT
water. I heard it come on this morning at 5:00 AM(it was really cold
outside) do not know if that makes a difference. It stayed on for 15
minutes. Is this normal? thanks

Normal. Heaters need to maintain the temperature of the water in the tank.
Heat losses are the reason that it comes on by itself.
"buffy92027" wrote in message
...
I live in a mobilehome and I have a 6 month old GAS water heater
outside. I thought the water heater ONLY comes on when you use the HOT
water. I heard it come on this morning at 5:00 AM(it was really cold
outside) do not know if that makes a difference. It stayed on for 15
minutes. Is this normal? thanks

buffy92027 wrote:
I live in a mobilehome and I have a 6 month old GAS water heater
outside. I thought the water heater ONLY comes on when you use the HOT
water. I heard it come on this morning at 5:00 AM(it was really cold
outside) do not know if that makes a difference. It stayed on for 15
minutes. Is this normal? thanks

Assuming it is a tank type, this is perfectly normal. The heat will
radiate out of the tank even if you are not using the hot water, so the
gas burner will need to kick on 1-2x a day to keep it hot for when
you're ready to use it.

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel

On Sun, 2 Dec 2007 20:23:02 -0500, "Joseph Meehan"
wrote:

"buffy92027" wrote in message
...
I live in a mobilehome and I have a 6 month old GAS water heater
outside. I thought the water heater ONLY comes on when you use the HOT
water. I heard it come on this morning at 5:00 AM(it was really cold
outside) do not know if that makes a difference. It stayed on for 15
minutes. Is this normal? thanks

There are two kinds of water heaters.

On Demand Heats water only when it is called for. It is small and has no
tank

Tank type Heats water in a tank and keeps it hot between uses. If this
heater is outside it will mean considerably higher water bills during the
winter.

I think you mean energy bill vs. water bill.


You say your water heater is outside. It certainly has to keep the
water above freezing and the pipes to and from it need to be kept above
freezing. Going below freezing can cause serious damage.
--
Oren

"Well, it doesn't happen all the time, but when it happens, it happens constantly."

On Dec 2, 1:40 pm, buffy92027 wrote:
I live in a mobilehome and I have a 6 month old GAS water heater
outside. I thought the water heater ONLY comes on when you use the HOT
water. I heard it come on this morning at 5:00 AM(it was really cold
outside) do not know if that makes a difference. It stayed on for 15
minutes. Is this normal? thanks

Your hot water heater is outside?

We first off, you need to protect it from the elements.

Second off, you need to insulate the **** out of it to control you
heating costs.