Frozen pipes

[ITD]

Originally Posted by Sue Doe-Nym

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

Hire a plumber to take care of the pipes and the water heater. You can have him come back year after year, or you can pay him to set up, then show you how to do the job yourself.

Personally I don't like leaving houses without temperature control for extended periods. Especially if it has sheet rock walls. Things just seem to deteriorate quickly.