HW heater and freezing.

mockturtle wrote:
If you're camping, leave it on. If you're storing it, drain it.

What he ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ said.

If you're camping, leave it on. If you're storing it, drain it.

Saw one being welded back together, aluminum so TIG welded. Mine is drained.

To heck with opinions here, we all have one. This is the facts.

If you drain the W/H, it will not freeze!

IMHO, if you leave it ON, it won't freeze.

There is NO correct answer to your question. I tell my customers that IF it is below 32 degrees, then there may be freezing. It actually has to be colder, but there is no way to accurately state the range of freezing that may cause damage. IMO, if it is 30 degrees for 1 month, then the odds are the W/H will freeze. Doug

Depends on time, temperature and wind chill (wind speed and direction) unless the water is already frozen then you can, for all practical purposes, drop the wind chill factor. :B

Our water heater has NO insulation to the outside air temperatures, just a metal vented door with a R rating of ZERO.

The part of WH inside RV is insulated........styrofoam cover

The Access panel/frame is metal. That metal panel is right against the front of WH tank.

How cold does that panel/frame get.....that is how cold WH tank can get do to exposure/contact with that meta panel.

In reality the 'insulation' on WH Tank is OK for helping keep heated water warm but not so great at keeping tank from freezing.

Atwood WH without access panel/frame

Mine has been in the 20's a number of times and in the teens a few times with no problem. But the temps never stayed that low for a long period of time.

It's really a matter of both time and temperature. At zero degrees a day or so might freeze the heater, at 25 degrees with above freezing during the day it probably won't freeze at all.