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Houston Home improvement

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Idle gas hot water heaters

Hi Tom,

We are leaving to go out of town for Christmas for 6 days. We have 2 gas hot water heaters and I want to turn off the water valve by my house so that no water is going into the house while I’m gone. My question is: What do we do with the gas hot water heaters? Do we completely shut them off? Do we turn them to the pilot mode? Or, what is the recommendation?

Thanks,

Jerry

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Tom: Nothing. They’ll stay full of water and just let them keep temperature. They’ll turn on very little because you’re not going to be using them and they’ll stay hot. If you turn it down and turn it back up it’s going to get all rancid in there so just leave them alone.
Charlie: Plus you can’t turn it back on yourself anyway. Don’t you have to have a plumber do that?
Tom: Well no. There’s actually, with a gas water heater, for those of you that should not do this, I’m telling you not to but you can, there’s a vacation setting on the little red dial. If you turn it down the pilot light stays on but the temperature, the burners don’t come on and off.
Charlie: But don’t do that.
Tom: No. Because then it gets rancid inside the hot water, the water tank, and then it gets smelly and you have to drain them and it gets to be a mess.
Charlie: All Right.
Tom: Just keep it at temperature, keep the bacteria out.

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Tagged With: gas, vacations, water heater

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