Hotwater heater relief

egary1942

Water is leaking from the pressure relief valve on my 40gal electric water heater. Is there a problem or something special I should know? It looks like a wrench and some silicone thread tape will get a replacement installed.

joecaption

Check the temperture of the hot water first. It should be 120 deg.
Check the water pressure.
Flip the lever up on the relief valve and pop it right back down to see if it reseats.

If you do replase it your going to need to shut off the incoming water, shut off the water heater and remove the valve and take it with you.
Use teflon pipe dope not tape. I've had better luck with it not leaking.

egary1942

Thanks, good advice.

biggles

blow it off might be crap on the seat the pressure is relieved ever time you use hot water and the standing pressure is the cold water feed into the house...even at 55PSI in(mine is ..there are no drips).being electric a contact on the controller might be over shooting did you notice a temp increase on the hot water lately...but an easy change out if you want shut the power and cold water off to the heater......drain from the bottom,pull the relief BAR up bucket under it...when the water stops blurping out of the relief thats the level within.. flip the new relief in...don't need to drain down totally...five wraps with teflon hand tight in 1-2 full turns with a wrench..might want to extend that discharge line into a bucket for the future