Every House Has a Story
Why Heat 50 Gallons of Water for an Empty House?
The house is vacant.
Nobody is taking a shower. Nobody is washing dishes. Nobody is doing laundry.
But inside the garage, the water heater continues keeping 40, 50, or even 80 gallons of water hot, day and night, just in case someone suddenly decides to take a shower three months from now.
That does not make much sense to us.
Even a well-insulated electric water heater may use approximately $5 to $9 per month just replacing the heat that escapes from the tank. Over a six-month absence, that can add up to roughly $30 to $55 for hot water nobody uses. An older or poorly insulated water heater may cost even more.
It is not a fortune, but why spend it?
When a seasonal home will be vacant for an extended period, we prefer to turn off the water heater while leaving the tank filled with water.
The tank is not drained. It simply stops reheating the same water every time its temperature drops.
Besides saving energy, turning it off prevents the water heater from repeatedly heating and expanding the water inside a plumbing system whose main valve has been closed. It does not eliminate every possible plumbing problem, but it removes heat and repeated heating cycles from the equation while the home is unattended.
Turning the water heater off is easy.
Turning it back on correctly is more important.
Before power is restored to an electric water heater, the main water valve must be open and the tank must be completely full. Water should flow steadily from the hot side of a faucet without coughing, sputtering, or pushing out air.
The electric heating elements are designed to operate while fully submerged. If the power is turned on while the tank is empty or only partially filled, an exposed element can burn out very quickly.
After the tank has been sitting unused, fresh water should also be moved through the plumbing before the hot water is used normally. The water inside the tank and hot-water lines may have been standing for weeks or months. It should be flushed through the fixtures, and the water heater should be allowed to reach its normal operating temperature.
Different water heaters require different shutdown and restart procedures. Traditional electric tanks, heat-pump units, gas heaters, tankless systems, and models with vacation settings cannot all be treated the same way. The manufacturer's instructions and the home's plumbing configuration always matter.
But for a traditional electric tank in a seasonal Florida home, our approach is straightforward:
Leave the tank filled. Turn off the power while the home is vacant. Restore the water supply and confirm the tank is full before turning the power back on.
There is no reason to pay for months of hot water that nobody will use.
And there is a very good reason to make sure the tank is full before someone flips that breaker back on.
Related story: Why Turn Off the Water When Nobody Is Home?