View Full Version : Can an electric hot water heater freeze? We have cold water but no hot.
shedholla
Jan 7, 2014, 08:32 AM
It dropped to teens last night so I left all my cold water faucets running however, I didn't leave hot running and now it don't work. Does this mean I have frozen pipes, or did no water heat up because I left only cold on or what is the problem? Could it be my tank is froze
massplumber2008
Jan 7, 2014, 09:15 AM
Hi Shedholla
I am not clear here. Do you have cold water coming out of the hot water side of your faucets or do you have no HOT water running from the faucets. If you have cold water that runs from the hot side of the faucets then the water heater may have tripped a thermal safety and it may be able to be reset...that or power tripped at the breaker, or something like that. If you have no water that flows from the hot water then the pipes are frozen.
Back to you...
Mark
smearcase
Jan 7, 2014, 10:12 AM
If you had areas of concern for the cold water freezing, hot water pipes were in just as much danger of freezing at those locations also. Hot water can freeze even faster than cold but after no use of hot water for a period of time, the hot water at a certain distance away from the heater, is most likely at the same temp. as the cold anyhow. Allowing hot water to just run down the drain goes against all of our intuitions but it is still cheaper than repairing pipes or worse- the damage from leaking burst pipes. I have a timer on my water heater so I can shut it off and just lose on tankful but then I have to wait an hour or two when I need hot water. As Mass said in an earlier post, pipes don't always burst when frozen and hopefully you are one of the luckier ones.
speedball1
Jan 7, 2014, 10:27 AM
Is there any water at all coming out of the hot taps?
If not, then I would suspect the cold water supply to the heater is frozen. If you have cold water coming from the hot side then I would suspect the water heater. Can you give us more details? Back to you, Tom