Wet around hot water heater drain valve

I recentlt replaced a leaky hot water heater drain valve with a nice brass one. However I notice that some of the insulation stays wet around it when I feel back the rubber grommet. I notice even tiny droplets of water on the outside of the metal jacket under the grommet. There doesn't appear to be a leak where valve connects as I can look and see no leak. Also if it leaked it would leak down and the insulation on the sides wouldn't be wet. What's the cause of this? It wasn't wet before I replaced the drain valve. I'm pretty sure because I did this as one of my checls. My drain valve had been leaking where the water actually drains from and at the handle.

Reply to
Grendel
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Did you use pipe dope or teflon tape on the male threads of that new valve before you screwed it into the boss on the tank shell.?

Just checking, because you didn't mention it and your post gave no clue to your level of expertese, so don't be offended if you did use a thread sealant.

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff Wisnia

Reply to
Grendel

It hat water heater old enough to be nearing the end of its life. (Where we live the water is corrosive enough so that we're hard pressed to get

8 years out of a 10 year warranty heater.)It's possible that you already have a tiny leak through the shell well above that drain valve location and that's where the dampness is coming from.

Does the T&P valve thread into a boss on the side of the tank located above the drain faucet you just changed? There might be a leak at its threads, but IME if a threaded joint on a brass valve screwed into a steel boss doesn't leak right after installation, it won't start leaking unless some blow jars it loose.

But, I have experienced steel pipes rusting out from the inside and breaking through at the root of a male thread, because that area is necessarily thinner than the full wall of an unthreaded pipe. That kind of leak can look awfully much like a thread leak, but it isn't really that.

I'm sure that the valve itself is far too warm to condense any moisture out of the surrounding air.

just throwing it out there. Or

"Never" is a long time. If you leave that rubber ring pulled out or take it completely off and the insulation isn't dry behind the hole in a week, I'm betting on a slow leak through the tank shell and you can start shopping for a new water heater.

Good Luck,

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff Wisnia

Why the hell would you want to heat hot water?

Reply to
Oscar_Lives

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