A customer of mine has just replaced his hot water heater himself and he's having a problem with the relief valve. It keeps leaking, the old one didn't and yes he has lowered his pressure at the house input valve and bought a new replacement but the same thing, it leaks. Leaking inside the valve and he now has a bucket hanging off it to collect the the small amounts of water that is leaking. What could be giving him this problem?
Thanks for any clues!!!
Rich
First -- be honest,, it aint yo customa .......unless you is STORMIN the mormon--moroon- moroooon . YEA a Moroone [ 3 stooges dialect here ] OK MOE , Curley , Larry,,
This is Turtle.
You did not say where it was leaking from. Through the valve it's self and no out door pipe installed and bucket hand from the valve to catch the water or leaking out of the head with a pipe run to the outside.
The only ones i ever heard of leaking was sold buy Walmart or Home Cheapo. I think they were made in China.
TURTLE
Remember it's not just a pressure relief, it's also a temperature relief valve. How hot is the heater getting?
its probably the trash(water deposits or rust particles) inside the hot water heater that is not letting the valve close all the way.. get on the gaskets in the valve and lets water drip out.... on mine years ago i had to open it a few times to flush the stuff out... and then gently tapped the valve and it finally stopped leaking...... its a sigh that the h/w heater needs replacing....
If the relief valve is new, and a few manual trips of the relief valve did not reseat the valve and fix his problem, he might have to add an expansion tank or he has a faulty relief valve. The chances of a faulty relief valve are small, but the possibility exists.
By chance did also remove the expansion tank when he replaced the heater? Does his main shut-off valve to the house have a backflow preventer installed? If he can answer "yes" to either of these questions then he needs the expansion tank.
The purpose of the expansion tank is to allow the water a "place to go" when heated. Water expands when heated and if the domestic water system is a closed loop the water has no place to go and eventually will trip the relief valve on the water heater.
oh, shows you where my mind was when reading the post..... oh well, i well i will wake up later on in the day... thanks for the info....
Its not leaking from the connection, its leaking out of the opening itself.
Rich "You can lead them to LINUX but you can't make them THINK"
Thanks guys I'll tell him to open and close it a few times.
Rich
Why would you want to heat hot water?
I've got six T&P relief valves in my basement and none leak. All were made by Watts Regulator. I've used other brands and had problems though.
RB
jim wrote:
This is Turtle.
If it will not seat off on a cold tank. change it out and get a new one.
TURTLE
Seeing as how it's a customer of yours, and seeing as how he's saved a pile of money on his own replacement. Why don't you drain the entire system, replace the T/P valve, and charge him double retail for the valve? Plus the two hours labor?
Oh, looking back, he's got a replacement.
Well, then, try to find the expansion tank and drain it. Oughta be an Extrol or some similar tank. So that when the water heats and expands, it has somewhere to go. You could file a nick on the toilet seat flapper, and then you'd always have a valve open a little, and the expansion of the water heating would be able to expand through the toilet fill valve and...... Naah, check or install the Extrol. Or drain the pipes to get air into the hammer arresters.
Hi EvoDawg, hope you are having a nice day
On 15-Feb-04 At About 15:57:09, EvoDawg wrote to All Subject: Re: Hot Water heater relief valve question
E> From: EvoDawg
E> EvoDawg wrote:
E> Thanks guys I'll tell him to open and close it a few times.
is there an expansion tank on this system?
-=> HvacTech2
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