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Posted by Pop` on February 12, 2007, 2:36 pm
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?
>
>
>> trader4@optonline.net 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.
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