Here is an excerpt from IWILLTRY.ORG:
What’s the best water temperature to aim for?
"There is a hot debate (pun intended) about what is an appropriate temperature for domestic hot water heaters. Some recommend water temperatures under 50°C to prevent scalding (especially important if you have children). Others recommend a temperature of 60°C or higher to kill bacteria. The primary bacterial concern is Legionella bacteria which can cause Legionnaire’s Disease. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 8,000 to 18,000 Americans contract the disease annually (about 1 out of every 20,000 people) with 5 to 30% of cases being fatal. High risk groups are the elderly, smokers, the immuno-compromised and those with chronic respiratory illnesses. According to
this article, it’s not necessary that water temperature be maintained at 60°C to kill the bacteria. It’s only necessary that the water temperature be raised to 60°C at least once per day. A great way to accomplish this with minimal energy consumption is – you guessed it – by running a tank on a timer just as I’ve described above. Commercial electric tanks have heating elements located near their midsections leaving some water at the bottom of the tank that will be cooler than 60°C even when the tank is set to 60°C. Thus Legionella bacteria are almost always found in electric tanks rather than gas or oil ones. The converted hot water tank I’ve described, however, should not suffer from this deficiency since the heating element can be lowered to the very bottom of the tank. I personally aim for a temperature of only 45°C at the point of use for morning showers. It’s up to you whether you want to run your tank up to 60°C or reduce your energy consumption and scalding risk by targeting a lower temperature."
http://www.esr.cri.nz/SiteCollection...ling%20Leg.pdf page 3 cites that tanks are to be considered a potential source of legionella.
These are just 2 but it looks like their is some viability to the argument so I don't think I would turn off the heat source becuase if you should spring a leak the worst that is going to happen is your elements will burn out. The tank isn't going to be any good anyways because it has a hole in it.
So I think it is sufficient to simply turn off the water source to the water heater and go enjoy yourself away from home. This is not something to panic over because after all 40 gallons of water isn't that much and if your soldering job lasted this long you should bein the clear (with 99% certainty, lol but then you can't be 100% certain about anything after all the solder might be defective or you maight have a pipe burst somewhere else. So I would just turn off the water source and not worry about anything by doing that you are doing more than the vast amjority of people in this country, I know I never do, lol!
Good luck, be safe.
__________________
James D. Van Raden
Owner, Paragon Renovations Moorhead, MN/ Fargo, ND
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
"Committed to providing the finest renovation services available"
! ! !
Linear Mode
