Dan,
If your customers are gone for more than a few days, they should turn the heater off and drain the water out of it. That is what I do with my 25 year-old Aquastar, although I don’t have to turn it off because it doesn’t use electricity. But I do drain it to keep it from freezing. In fact, I drain the whole house in the winter when I leave since the wood stove is not keeping it warm if I’m not there. I did come back to broken pipes a time or two before I got smart. Brian AEE Solar *From:* RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org] *On Behalf Of *Dan Fink *Sent:* Friday, September 11, 2015 11:03 AM *To:* RE-wrenches *Subject:* Re: [RE-wrenches] off-grid propane tankless water heater advice Louis; I have seen that pilot light save off-grid on-demand water heaters from freezing many times! Often old technology has advantages that don't make it into new, high-tech equipment press releases. Since I work so far off grid and only with small systems, the newer water heaters needing 120VAC supply don't let inverters go into Search Mode when the residents are away for days, weeks or months. I know Search Mode is a relic from a decade ago when PV was expensive, but smaller systems still rely on it. Best regards; Dan Fink Adjunct Professor, Ecotech Institute IREC Certified Instructor™ for: ~ PV Installation Professional ~ Small Wind Installer Executive Director, Buckville Energy NABCEP / IREC / ISPQ Accredited Continuing Education Providers™ 970.672.4342 On Fri, Sep 11, 2015 at 11:20 AM, <lo...@solarcowboyz.com> wrote: Hello Rebekah, I have had no luck in getting the older style without AC required either. I agree that these newer devices that require AC are better performers. Some of these(most ?) have a built in anti-freeze protection scheeme. It is made from a ceramic heating element(HI-WATT RES.) that will come on at a default internal temp.(typ=36 to 38deg F). When this antifreeze circuit turns ON there is around 100 to 200W(I would have to go measure to be sure) of power consumed. When installed in cold climates this circuit will be used. On the older non-ac units the standing pilot light can protect against some freezing;However I would not count on this alone in cold climates. This is something to be aware of. Hope this helps. Louis Segarra
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