Mysterious Water Leak

[salty]

If its a long pipe that stops above the floor, that's it.

Here's a photo of a typical one

[Mark M.]

Yes. Turning off the main water valve could cause the water heater's relief valve to open. Here's why: water expands when heated. The extra volume has to have somewhere to go. With your main valve open, this extra volume goes back into the water main feeding your house. With the valve closed, this extra volume has nowhere to go but out the pressure relief valve on your water heater.

Mark M.

[Tom]

After readfing the posts I agree. The plumber can't come 'til Monday so I think I'll cut the herat setting back to "vacation" setting when I leave then reset it to the normal setting and turn the water main back on when I return to the house or when I wake up in the morning.

[Frank]

To see if that's the source of the water, you simply place a catch pan under the discharge pipe. Over my life time, I had to replace two of these valves.

[salty]

Is the bathtub leak accessible? If so, and we are talking about a pinhole leak, you might be able to temporarily seal it by wrapping it several layers thick with tightly wound electrical tape, which is then wrapped tightly with string (each wrap of string directly alongside the preceeding with no gaps) to keep the tape from bursting or leaking sideways. Obviously not a permanent repair, but you might eliminate all the other contortions until the plumber gets there.

[dpb]

If you're going to continue to turn off supply and have a known leak, I would recommend turning off or at least way down the water heater setpoint so don't try to keep it at full temperature w/ no feed and potential outflow--it's not good.

The answer still is to fix the leak.

--

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Yes, it takes pressure off the system from the main. Water expanding can go backwards too.

[ironmike]

Umm, if the water is off, how exactly does the water flow out of the water heater?

[Bob Wheatley]

Um, Mikey, I know these guys are idiots for the most part, but.... If all the valves are off in the house and you turn off the main water supply with the heater still going and the heater doesn't have an expansion tank, the expansion of the heated water in the now closed hot water system could blow out of the T&P.

I'm just sayin'.......:>)

Bob Wheatley

[ironmike]

"Or, w/ the water supply off, somebody ran some hot water and since the heater had no resupply it overheated and blew off some steam during the night."

What I thought he was saying was that with the main off, the heater emptied itself of water which caused it to overheat. The "resupply" comment struck me this way. If I've been too hard on him, I will apologize (as all plumbers are quick to do).

Mikey

[Bob Wheatley]

I didn't notice his post. I was responding directly to your question: "Umm, if the water is off, how exactly does the water flow out of the water heater?"

Most of the cross posts I just ignore because it aggravates me to even read them. A bunch of wannabes offering advice that for the most part is just nonsense, and in some cases could get people hurt or even killed. Are you still in Europe somewhere?

Bob Wheatley

[ironmike]

Bob,

I am actually in the States as we speak. We're here visiting family, and we'll return to Kosovo in three weeks. We'll stay there one more academic year.

If I wasn't so lazy, I'd post some pictures of the plumbing I've seen over there. It'd make these DIYers look like your best jouneymen!

[kennybs]

"Hi, this morning I cleaned up a mess in my basement caused by a water leak. Most of the water was on the floor of the bathroom and surrounding areas,"

Hell I'm totally lost.

How could a leaking T&P on the basement water heater cause water on the above bathroom floor?

Isn't the water heater in question (a Whirlpool water heater that was installed 3 - 4 years ago.) I would assume that may be an inline heater.

After all this it may be a loose toilet tank that leaks when the big bodied wife tinkles durring the middle of the night.

kenny b

[Tom]

Yes, that was the source of the water.

[Tom]

I've been turning it off when I leave the house. Funny thing is the leak was very steady and now it's a drip every 90 seconds or so. Go figure.

[salty]

Especially in older pipes, it wouldn't be surpising if sediment from elsewhere has migrated and tried to escape through the leak, partially plugging it.

[Chris]

Expanding water? The laws of physics are not what used to be

[kennybs]

"Expanding water? The laws of physics are not what used to be"

care to explain, ?