Thread: Frozen pipes
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Old 09-27-2023, 06:22 PM   #10
Biggd
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sue Doe-Nym View Post
This one is for you brainiacs who know all there is about closing a house for the winter months: Assuming that you have done almost everything possible to prevent a disaster in freezing weather, including draining the pipes, etc….if the house is on a slab, which makes emptying the hot water heater completely almost impossible,
my husband claims that the water heater would still contain some water. If that is so, and it’s a 50 gallon tank and there’s 10 to 20 gallons left in the tank, if there should be a freeze (power failure plus generator failure), wouldn’t the water, as it begins to freeze, merely expand to fill the available space in the tank and not result in a disaster?
This has been driving me nuts!
TIA for any useful advice.

Sue
If it has that much water left in the tank it will be on the bottom. When it freezes it won't freeze upwards, it will freeze outwards, drain the tank completely!
You can buy a small pump that hooks up to garden hoses to suck out all the water without making a mess. I think they should have them at Harbor Freight.
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