How To Shut Off Gas Water Heater For Vacation. By turning the thermostat down or to “vacation” (an option on some newer models), you can lower the amount of electricity/gas that your model will consume while you’re gone. Is it safe to leave the water heater on the pilot?
Turn the thermostat dial to its lowest setting; Steps before going on vacations and turning off the main water valve: You can also shut off the cold water supply to the water heater to limit damage in the event of a leak from the tank.
If your hot water heater doesn’t have a vacation setting, simply manually adjust your temperature to resemble vacation mode by lowering the temperature to 50 degrees fahrenheit, or the lowest setting your thermostat allows.
Is it safe to leave the water heater on the pilot? If you do spring a leak inside, the line will be under some initial pressure. What if your water heater doesn’t have a vacation mode? Then the pilot can solve your problem.