Frozen pipes

Sue Doe-Nym · 09-27-2023, 03:01 PM

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

09-27-2023, 03:01 PM	#1
Sue Doe-Nym Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 1,372 Thanks: 712 Thanked 758 Times in 393 Posts	Frozen pipes 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