“If you’re headed out of town for a while, you might be curious if you can turn off your water heater to save a little money. Here’s what to consider before you do.
Skip a Total Shutdown, Use Vacation Mode
If you have a newer tankless water heater, good news. There is little you have to do if you’ll be out of town. Tankless water heaters are largely hands-off. At most, you might consider turning off any features you’ve enabled, such as a high-recirculation frequency that keeps the water preheated, which won’t do any good (and will waste energy) if you’re out of town.
If you have a traditional water heater, however, It might be tempting to completely shut your water heater down if you are out of town for weeks or even months, but we’d recommend avoiding that unless you’re closing down a vacation home for the season and fully winterizing the plumbing.
Instead, it’s much wiser to use “vacation” mode if your water heater has it or to turn it to the lowest possible setting if it doesn’t have a vacation mode. Doing so lowers the temperature of the tank well below the regular operating temperature but still keeps the water heater on.”
Read more water heater tips here.
So why wouldn’t you want to turn off your water heater completely? For one, if you live in a cold climate area the tank may freeze over causing major issues. Furthermore, those who have older water heaters may find that starting it back up again can be problematic. In essence, there is no harm in leaving your water heater on when you’re away for a short period.
Is your water heater acting up? If so call Apple Valley Eagan Appliance at 952-953-0080 for water heater repair service. We work on many different types and models of water heaters.
