Have a 50 Gal back up Propane water heater, How Do I store when not useing it? Worried about bacteri

JoeG

I have a AO SMITH 50 Gal Propane Hot water heater that I plumbed in as a back up in case my Navien On Demand goes down. 

Should I Drain it? 

With water in and out shut off?

I dont plan On using unless needed I am going to shut gas off to it. I have it running right now With the hot out shut off just to make sure it works and I have heat control all the way up would like to kill any diesease.



Should I put bleach in it and leave it fool with in and out vavles shut?



There was a few little bug looking like things in it when I flushed. it sat openfor a little while and the anode rod slugged up the bottom, I changed teh aluminum for a magesisum one.

kcopp

I would take it off ....

line, drain it, and yes disable the gas to it. kpc

Jamie Hall

Im sure...

you'll get as many different opinions as you get answers to this one.



My own take on it would be to drain it and leave it empty -- it won't really matter whether the valves are open or closed, so I'd probably leave them closed except the drain, which I'd leave open.  Then if you do need to use it, and you are concerned about possible bacteria, you could fill it with a disinfectant solution, drain it thoroughly, and refill (I'd do this a few times).



I personally don't bother; in the buildings I supervise which are closed in the winter, I just drain the water heaters and leave the drains open.  Then refill them when the buildings are opened again.  Never had a problem doing that -- but I do run the hot water hot, with tempering valves.

Tim McElwain

Answer based on many

years working for the gas company of shutting off gas to customers summer cottages and then bring them back on in the spring.



Shut them off (gas & water) and drain them refill them in the spring. Never had a problem.



Just to get an expert opinion type the question down in the water heater section here and I am sure Larry W will give you the final answer he is the expert for sure.

JoeG

So

What do you guys think the little water bug like things that were in there were?



I cranked it all the way up and lt get as hot as possiable. Ill let it run for a day then shut it down. I may never need it but I figured I had it mine aswell hook it up.



I that there was still water in the bottom of teh tank after it drained and that  there was alot of sludge from the anode rod in theere. The walls looked good though.

SpeyFitter

How about a Buffer Tank?

You could always have your Navien outlet (hot) into the inlet (cold) of the tank and just leave the tank running/installed . The only gas the tank will/should use is to keep the temp of the water up sort of acting like a buffer tank for your Navien and the Navien will do all the work as cold water is pulled through it, then heated up, then dumped into the tank. If you're worried about the tank failing. I would think that this tank should last quite a long time as the burner will hardly be used for the most part (at least the burner will hardly turn on).

The only problem with this set up is you might not know if your higher efficiency Navien has a problem or not.

JoeG

i was

That was my original plan was to do that, But the navien does just fine for my water needs. I can run two showers and a bath with no prob at teh same time.