Over the years, I serviced many homes with outdoor tankless water heaters (picture 1), and I have now had the privilege of inspecting several. There are few things I loathed more than defrosting a frozen water heater that hadn’t been properly insulated; bonus tip, don’t use a heat gun - they are too hot and melt the pipes! If you have an exterior tankless water heater, there are a few important precautions you can take to keep it from freezing. First, remove the bottom panel cover. Inside of the bottom compartment, make sure the water lines have pipe insulation on them. This is missing from picture 2. Next, add batt insulation on the front, back, and bottom of the pipes to fill the whole cavity; make sure not to add too much though, or the cover won’t fit securely back in place. Lastly, I have found during the winter months that I only experienced freezing water heaters with temperatures below 20 degrees. On nights predicted to be that low, leave a hot water faucet running with a slight drip. The hot faucet needs to be on to keep the water flowing through the water heater, but the volume will not be enough to actually make it turn on to heat. Hopefully these precautionary tips help, because once you have thawed a frozen water heater with a hair dryer, you’ll never want to do it again, I promise! Keep following for more ways to view your home with a fresh perspective!
