Water Leaking From Hot Water Heater Pressure Relief Valve

Your water heater s relief valve can start leaking for one of two reasons.

Water leaking from hot water heater pressure relief valve. When no water exits the discharge pipe from the t p valve close the drain valve and remove the garden hose. In the first case the valve will drain water out of the discharge pipe as explained above. So when there s a lot of pressure being built inside our electric water heater pressure relief valve it will eventually start leaking water outwards. When you see water coming out from the water heater release valve there are two most likely causes.

Every water heater whether gas or electric needs a temperature and pressure relief valve because without one it could begin to leak or even explode. A webcast viewer asks gary bunzer the rv doctor if he should be worried about a leaky hot water pressure relief valve. Open the drain valve on the water heater then open the hot water tap at a nearby sink to release the vacuum on the tank. A water heater pressure relief valve is what prevents the levels of pressure from your water heater from getting to dangerous levels.

The relief valve is working the way it s intended and water drained to reduce the pressure inside the tank. The second reason a water heater relief valve leaks is the water has gotten too hot if the temperature of the water in the water heater reaches above 210 degrees f the relief valve will leak or even blow off this is why the outlet of the relief valve must be piped to about 6 inches from the ground you would not want to get a blast of 210 degree f water in the face. If a pressure relief valve for a boiler is accidentally installed on a water heater it will leak like crazy from the start. Technically speaking when a water heater warms the water inside the tank it builds up quite a good amount of pressure.

Place a bucket under the discharge pipe connected to the valve to collect any water and open the t p valve. Either the valve was triggered to open because of excessive temperature or pressure or the valve itself is faulty. The t and p valve which is located on the. These valves may look identical but they re set to go off at 30 psi.

If it leaks then it can do quite a bit of damage in just a short amount of time with just the water that is leaked. Usually what causes a leak is the minerals in the water that will deposit on your valve.