Water Leaking From Hot Water Heater Pressure Relief Valve

A webcast viewer asks gary bunzer the rv doctor if he should be worried about a leaky hot water pressure relief valve.

Water leaking from hot water heater pressure relief valve.

If a pressure relief valve for a boiler is accidentally installed on a water heater it will leak like crazy from the start. 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. 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. Usually what causes a leak is the minerals in the water that will deposit on your valve.

There s a problem with the valve such as a faulty seal and the water is unintentionally leaking. 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. The t and p valve which is located on the. Technically speaking when a water heater warms the water inside the tank it builds up quite a good amount of pressure.

When you see water coming out from the water heater release valve there are two most likely causes. Either the valve was triggered to open because of excessive temperature or pressure or the valve itself is faulty. Your water heater s relief valve can start leaking for one of two reasons. This extra amount of pressure causes the water to expand although it s a closed system that we have in electric water heaters.

When no water exits the discharge pipe from the t p valve close the drain valve and remove the garden hose. 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. Place a bucket under the discharge pipe connected to the valve to collect any water and open the t p valve.

When water is coming out of the pressure relief valve on your water heater it could signal that too much pressure is building up inside the water heater which is what the valve is designed for due to the burner or element not cutting off in which case the water heater needs to be repaired or replaced. 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.