It s better to take precautions before waiting till things get worse.
Pressure relief valve thru attic form hot water heater.
First turn off the gas to the water heater or flip the breaker if it s electric.
For more on this.
A leakage in your water heater pressure relief valve is a sign of a malfunction in your overflow valve.
Go to our blog post when is a water heater drain pan required.
If the water inside the unit gets too hot usually above 210 degrees or pressure builds up too high above 150 psi the water heater can become damaged or even explore.
A good solution to this risk is the relief valve.
And many homeowners have complained that faulty and unattended temperature pressure relief valves have exploded at times they least expected in most cases.
Place a bucket under the discharge pipe connected to the valve to collect any water and open the t p valve.
If at any point the temperature or pressure reaches an unsafe level the water heater triggers the relief valve to open and.
Pan serving the water heater.
How to find the water heater pressure relief valve also known as the temperature pressure relief valve or the tpr valve this valve is located near the top of the water heater.
High pressure relief valves open at a specific pressure to protect pumps and pipelines from exceeding stress limits.
When no water exits the discharge pipe from the t p valve close the drain valve and remove the garden hose.
Open the valve at the bottom and the pressure relief valve for a minute to drain a little water out of the tank and relieve the pressure.
These valves may look identical but they re set to go off at 30 psi.
In the example below an upper pressure relief valve drain not visible behind vent connector has been tied into the drain for the lower one.
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.
If a pressure relief valve for a boiler is accidentally installed on a water heater it will leak like crazy from the start.
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.
4 termination of the discharge piping can be to any of the following.
Proper maintenance should include periodic testing of this valve.
It usually features a lever you can lift up or down and has a discharge pipe that runs from the valve down to the water heater s base.
