Is it safe to turn set my water heater tank to vacation during winter because I am mostly away from my house? I live in Canada.
What else can I turn off to save heating bills during winter when I am away at my house?
Electrical – Is it safe to set the water heater tank to vacation during winter time? What else can I turn off to save heating bills during winter
electricalheatwater tankwater-heaterwinter
Related Solutions
Could be that your water has some minerals in it. I noticed some cloudy water and a funny taste when I first moved into my house. I searched online for a water analysis company and for about $150 they sent me a kit to collect water samples and analyzed it for several minerals.
Turns out I have a VERY high calcium content. According to their findings there is no upper limit to the amount of calcium you can have in your water but it will make it taste funny and cloud the water/give it a funny taste. Depending on how old your hot water tank is you may have some sediment built up in the bottom.
If you haven't ever done it I'd recommend looking up a company that does water analysis, they'll normally send you a kit with a number of bottles and instructions on how to collect samples. It's a few hundred dollars but it's generally worth the peace of mind to know what you're potentially drinking/showering with. Here is an example of a water testing company. The price looks to be about $120 (plus shipping the test sample back to them).
Depending on what's in your water, you may want to flush your hot water tank as well. Here is a set of instructions on how to do it. I do it about once a year. It uses alot of water but it helps extend the life of your hot water tank and provides a more efficient heating of the water.
I've been looking into a heat pump replacement.
You said "However, when the heat pump is in heating mode, the exiting refrigerant line is actually colder, not hotter, than when it enters. As a result, you cannot heat water during the winter."
That will depend on the location of the internal connections. The HP models I have seen with a desuperheater ( hot water generator ) place the HWG after the compressor before the reversing valve. That means the pump always runs forward, the HWG always has hot refrigerant to use and it works in summer and in winter. The reversing valve does just that - in summer it sends the leftover heat to the outside and extracts heat (cools) the inside. In winter it sends the heat to the inside and extracts heat from the outside. 
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Best Answer
First of all you should turn off the water to the house and water heater . I've had a burst pipe at my vacation home because the power failed, it got really cold and froze pipes. When the power came back on and melted the frozen water in the pipes, there was a badly cracked pipe that did a ton of damage. If you have pex plumbing that doesn't apply, but if it's copper or steel, you are at risk. Even if you did have a metal pipe freeze and burst, when you came back and turned on the water, it would probably be immediately obvious that you had a burst pipe that you could address immediately, mitigating further damage.
I would also set the heating system (not sure what you have, so take this with a grain of salt) to about 45 F. That's high enough to keep the humidity in check, but shouldn't be too costly.