After a period on "Vacation" setting, my HWH overheated and released a little water from the presure relief valve. It has not repeated this action over the past two days, but obviously this requires some expert attention. Would it be cost effective to bring in a repairman for a possible repair, or would it be best to simply replace the whole appliance?
If its over 10 years old then I would lean to replacement. First analyze it.
If it's under 10 years old fix it and do step one. If you know it's old and has setiment replace it!
There comes a time in the affairs of man when he must take the bull by the tail and face the situation. -- WCF
The relief valve actually is dual purpose; it will open if the water becomes scalding hot *OR* if the tank pressure exceeds (usually) 150PSI. Unless you know for a fact that the water got extremely hot, I'd bet it was relieving pressure. That could have been due to high city street pressure (transient?) or due to thermal expansion. (It might have been due to a faulty relief valve but I'm skeptical since it reclosed.)
Anyway...the whole thing may not have been the heater's fault, so don't rush to judgement.
Jim
How old is it?
Is it leaking?
Is it gas or electric?
Is there a expansion tank on the system?
It is gas, two years old, is not leaking, and has no expansion tank. The water was very hot, but the burner was off when I discovered the fault. What I really want to know is: is there an easy fix for this or should I just go down to Home Depot and replace the tank?
If the water was *very* hot on Vacation setting, the gas control is probably defective. The control is expensive but way less than a whole new tank and all the effort to install. Jim
I should have added that with a 2-yr old tank you might look at the warranty. Although most cover the controls for only one year (tank longer), some mfr have longer warranty on controls. Jim
More likely, when the water cooled it contracted. Drew in some more water into the tank. The water reheated, and expanded. Might be your water meter or some where else in the system has a check valve. The heating / expansion released the extra volume through the TP valve.
I wouldn't worry about it.
It should have a combination valve with shutoff/pilot-only settings _and_ a thermostat. These thermostats are pretty crude, with set-point changed by rotating knob/shaft, from "hot" to "not that hot". Some can be set to pretty high temp. Note that they sense water temp in bottom of tank, with heated water accumulating above, so there's no strict correspondence between setting and water temp at tank discharge.
I'd suggest you do a bottom-flush on the tank to remove sediment, and call your gas company to check out the t-stat, and set it to safe temp- around 130 deg F.
HTH, John
Yeah, Hump on down to Home Depot and get another water heater. If you're lucky, maybe it'll last you 2 yrs and a month. Get a "Real" water heater. Better yet, get someone in to find out what your problem is before you waste your money on another water heater that trashes itself too. Bubba
You freakin brainless idiot. Not worry about it!!?? Go key a doorknob or something. Bubba
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