relieve valve

[Brent Staple]

My residential Kenmore water heater is suddenly leaking from the relieve valve. Can this be fixed and is it easy to fix ? What parts would I need to purchase….

[Vince]

: My residential Kenmore water heater is suddenly leaking from the relieve valve. Can this be fixed and is it easy to fix ? : What parts would I need to purchase….It may not be a defective relief valve. The relief valve is designed to relieve excess pressure and it could be doing just that. Excess pressure can be caused by a number of things such as a defective pressure reduction valve (if you have one), malfunctioning thermostat, abnormally high water main pressure, a blockage of some sort on the inlet piping to the water heater. Installing a new relief valve is pretty easy. Shut off your water heater, shut off the water heater inlet valve, drain a little water out by openning the pressure relief and a hot water faucet. Un connect the piping from the outlet of the relief valve if present. Unscrew the old one and screw in the new one. Re-connect any outlet piping. etc. My website has trouble shooting and water heater information of all kinds in the water heater pages.

[Vince]

: My residential Kenmore water heater is suddenly leaking from the relieve valve. Can this be fixed and is it easy to fix ? : What parts would I need to purchase….Before you replace your T&P valve 1-Check the temperature of the water. 2- put a gauge on the hose bibb connecton to see exactly how much pressure you have in this system. dont be like most jack legg wanna be plumbers and just ask for a relief valve Check for yourself 1- The actual BTU input of this heater and then ask for a T&P with a rating greater than the input. If possible go by the AGA rating and not the ASME. You want to make sure that your combination Temperature/Pressure relief valve is set for 210 degrees MAX and 150 PSI and is a min. of 3/4 and has a means of testing. Look for the ASME/AGA and Gama ratings. remember a T&P is the only safety device on this tank. The others are operatng controllers. You can not count a thermo couple as a safety device as it can not tell tempeture or pressure in a run away firing condition. Dont forget to CHECK pressure and tempeture before condeming this device.Sylvan

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