Gas hot water heater control.

[leedavidr]

So what do people with gas hot water heaters do when they are away from their vacation house?  I turn off my water with a zwave control valve but can only manually turn off and on my gas hot water heater.  Is there a way to covert one to zwave controllable and if so how is the pilot light relit from afar?  Obviously if you have an electric hot water heater, this is pretty easy.  I guess one could just turn the hot water heater to vacation mode rather than off but I worry about firing up the hot water heater even to 50 degrees (usual vacation mode temperature) if the water has been off for a while. Is there loss of water (evaporation from the hot water heater tank during the hot summer months in AZ with it located in the garage).  It would be nice to be able to control this remotely so that when one arrived to a vacation house, hot water would be immediately available.

[BrianLBeaton]

Consider http://waterheatertimer.org/Remote-control-for-gas-water-heater.html


I use this in my home along with a simple Z-wave controlled SmartSwitch (DSC24-ZWUS).

[leedavidr]

Do you turn the water off when you're away and if so how long are you away?  I would be away for about 6 months of the year with the water heater being in the garage in the hot climate of the AZ summer.  Thus, I am uncertain as to whether leaving the water heater on vacation mode with the water off is advisable for that long with high summer temperatures there.  I am worried about the water being turned on in vacation mode with the water in the tank being low.  It's a closed system so perhaps this really isn't an issue.

[BrianLBeaton]

I keep the water on.

[RichardTSchaefer]

If you are in a humid environment ... leaving the pilot on provides enough heat to keep the humidity down and limit rusting in the tank and flu system.