My Hot Water Heater Is Only Six Years Old And Is Sending Water Out The Tube Off The Blow Off Valve. Replace Or
Monday, November 30th, 2009 at
1:40 am
water heater is puking out the tube off the blow off valve, does this about once a week, is it fixable?
Tagged with: Blow • Heater • Only • Replace. • Sending • Tube • Valve • Water • Years
Filed under: Home Repair
fixable and cheap to do. go get a temperature/ pressure relief valve, (they’re pretty much universal) shut the water off, open a hot water tap to release some of the pressure(no need to drain it if its on top of the tank.)If it has a drain you’ll have to unscrew that too, you might need to cut it depending on how much room you have to work with. Unscrew the old tp valve, dope or teflon tape the new one, and screw it in. Reassemble drain pipe and turn the water back on
Im not sure replacing the pressure relief valve is the problem here. You might want to look into getting an expansion tank.
I’ve seen it happen when a hot water heater heats up water, after being used hard, the water heater builds up too much pressure and the pressure relief valve opens to drain off some pressure exactly what its supposed to do. The expansion tank will absorb some of the excess pressure insted. If you replace the pressure relief valve and the problem is still happening, look into an expansion tank.
The previous description of replacing the TPR valve is correct and your best bet. One thing left out, installing a pipe from the TPR valve is necessary. The pipe should extend to within 6 inches of the floor or go thru the floor and into a drain. This is for safety in the event the TPR valve releases it will channel the water down to a safe area instead of blowing hot water out all over someone that may potentially be standing near.
If the valve is bad it can be replaced. If you shut your heater down and drain it, you can remove the valve and see if it is corroded. If not your water heater may be bad.
You need to determine if the relief is blowing off on high pressure or high temperature. Check the house pressure coming into your home. If it exceeds 75 psi you need to either adjust, replace or install a pressure regulating valve (Model 25AUB) to get your pressure to read between 50-75 psi when nothing is being used. if pressure is ok than make sure the temperature is not set too high above the mark that indicates 125 degrees fahrenheit. If temp is not too high, than check the water heater for thermal expansion. If the tank pressure exceeds 150 psi when the tank is heating than you need to install a thermal expansion tank on the cold water inlet to the water heater. Thermal expansion can also occur if the pressure regulator valve (25AUB) has a defective bypass not allowing excess pressure to travel back into the main. However if the bypass is ok and the street pressure exceeds 150, than you need to install the thermal expansion tank anyway.
Do yourself a favor and call a licensed professional on this one.