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Old 08-01-2022, 05:58 PM   #29
thinkxingu
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SailinAway View Post
If the shutoff valves on the water heater are open, then I'm drawing water from the COLD water heater for the shower. Legionnaire's bacteria is spread by aerosol when it comes out of the shower head.

Under what circumstances would the water heater lose water? Does it depend on pressure from the town water inlet? Like when the town water pipe freezes, the water in the boiler backflows? That has happened to me twice (frozen pipe at the road and cracked water main down the street). Scary.
Yup, with your mixing valve you're right.

If you had a shutoff after the water heater, you'd be fine. I was mostly referring to one before, which would prevent the water heater from filling if any were lost. Just not worth it given the potential damage to the tank.

It sounds like if you're willing to shut it off for a while with a shutoff to keep the water heater water from mixing with the straight cold you might save a few bucks.

I'd really like to know if it's worth all the rigmarole, though, after calculating costs to heat from cold, heat cleaning water, and always cold showers.

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