my hot water tank leaks from the copper pipe along the side of it, i think its called a pressure relief pipe. it leaks all the time. YES, IVE REPLACED THE PRESSURE VALVE , AND IT DIDNT HELP. The tank is only 3 years old, and i replaced it since i was only allowed one shower before it got cold. by the way, the other water tank didnt leak out of the copper pipe, and this one does. I still only have 10 minutes of hot water with a 40 gallon tank! It is a gas tank. Id be grateful to you forever if you can help me with these 2 problems!
2007-02-06 14:59:23 · 6 answers · asked by lance 2 in Home & Garden ➔ Do It Yourself (DIY)
If the pressure valve is leaking, you need a new pressure valve and an expansion tank on the cold water line.
If the pressure valve is leaking from the base where it screws into the tank, need to unscrew the valve and screw them again with properly applied Teflon tape. If it still leaks, the tank may have a crack.
Your 10 minute hot water sounds like the lower element in your water heater is burned out.
If it is indeed a gas water heater, there is a drain valve at the bottom which is there to drain sediments. Maybe your tank insulation is wet. Check the underside of the tank where that burner is and make sure that the bottom of the tank with the flames hit is clean. Also check the center tube that goes up to the middle of the tank has a winding metallic insert about 3 feet long which pulls out from the tube. Sounds like it may be missing.
Good luck
2007-02-07 01:29:42 · answer #1 · answered by enord 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Given that you did specify that it was the pressure relief valve and not the inlet (or outlet) lines i would suggest the following. Assuming that the unit is in a basement the lines come from above. These along with the relief valve use a combination of threaded and (further from tank) either soldered or additional threaded connections. If these were leaking you would notice water on top of the tank. Start by going through and making sure that the lines going to the tank are connected to the correct sides. If they are, check the tank settings per instructions. You can test the outlet temp by turning on the nearest faucet (hot only) and let it run for 3 min. The temp should be somewhere in the neighborhood of 120 to 150 f.
2007-02-07 00:11:09 · answer #2 · answered by just jack 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
first off, is the pipe leaking from where it threads into the tank or is it dripping from the discharge? If it is leaking from the threads, turn the water off, and remove the T&P valve. Re-wrap the threads with teflon tape then apply pipe dope to that. Thread it back in and make sure it is snug. If it is leaking from the discharge, follow the same procedure only with a NEW valve.
The 10 minutes of hot water problem, look on top of your water heater, the pipes sticking out should be marked on top of the tank as hot and cold. Verify that they are piped correctly. ie: the cold water supply is going into the cold water marked tap, and hot is coming out of the hot. If they are piped incorrectly, you would get little hot water but what you did get would come out hot.
a 40 gallon water heater should be giving you plenty of hot water for about 2 showers.
2007-02-06 16:09:10 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
The copper pressure relief pipe is a safety feature so the pressure--be it steam or just water line service pressure--does not split your inner water containment tank. Do you have very hard water in your area? Sediment can build up rapidly in tanks if the water contains a lot of minerals. The shortage of hot water could be due to the inner tank being partially filled with stuff that is not water, like sediment. The sediment can also cause a slight pressure build up (because it gets much hotter that just plain water), pressure may be escaping from the pipe and sediment may be hanging the pressure valve open slightly. Is the water as hot as it's supposed to be at first? Could be just a heating element not keeping up with the demand. I had one that acted that way, and the water heater turned out to be bad. You could try draining it from the lower drain cock to see if you get H20 of solids.
2007-02-06 15:16:39 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
I answered this one just a minute ago but it didnt have the part about the copper pipe.The pipe is probably cracked or has a bad solder joint.This more than likely happened when you changed to the new tank.
2007-02-06 15:08:32 · answer #5 · answered by Jim C 6 · 1⤊ 4⤋
one answer (thermal expansion) put a tank on your cold water line
2007-02-06 22:27:54 · answer #6 · answered by plumber local union 102 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Sounds like a bad solder job on the pipe.#2 you have a thermostat on the hotwater htr. so turn it up!!!! It is the red dial on the side and you just need to turn it up
2007-02-06 15:09:41 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 3⤋