If you find water leaking from the drainpipe on your hot water heater, you shouldn’t necessarily panic, quite often it is something quite simple and easy to fix, although of course, we would say that if you have any doubts of your ability to fix it, you should call out a professional; attempting a fix could lead to all manner of problems, least of all, personal injury and scalding.
The usual suspects
In our experience, the usual suspect for this type of problem is the pressure
relief valve; a valve designed to vent the water if the pressure in the
system builds up beyond usual working pressure.
Sometimes, if you’re really lucky, just flicking the valve through
its opening cycle a couple of times may just stop that annoying leak.
If not, a replacement valve is needed.
Replacement
As we have already stated, replacement is quick easy with a little technical
knowledge, but if you don’t feel confident, call someone who knows
how to do it.
If you are going to attempt it, always make sure that the power is off
before starting the job, you don’t want it to be able to power up
while the system is dry.
Due to the many types of system, we can’t give detailed instructions on replacing the valve, but once it has been replaced, make sure to fill the hot water system correctly before heating it up; draw off water from the upper level hot water faucet until there are no air bubbles present, you should have a smooth flow of water from the faucet.
If you would like to talk to a professional regarding your hot water heater or any other plumbing problem that you have, call General Plumbing at (561) 771-0086 or CONTACT US ONLINE. Our team of professionals are always happy to help.