It needs to be flushed out With the cold water supply turned on, squirt more water out of the relief valve and try to get a few spurts at a decent flow from it The water will be hot, so use caution As the water heater heats the water, it expands, which builds up pressure in what is now essentially a closed system When the pressure builds up enough, the t&p relief valve on the water heater just does it’s job and relieves the excess pressure by leaking a little water. I can stop the valve from leaking for a few days by releasing the water from the drain pipe by opening the bottom ball valve that's located below the prv
But it comes back eventually I suspect the valve is going bad and needs replacing I replaced with a new pressure relief valve Still leaking so i hired a plumber he said my expansion tank is filled with water and it’s most likely the issue I paid and had the expansion tank changed. Wait until the water heater is actively heating the water (you can expedite this step by using hot water, so go take a shower or something)
Monitor the pressure through the end of the heating cycle If you get a gauge with a lazy hand , it will stay at the highest pressure achieved. 1 i just finished replacing the pressure relief valve on my rinnai hot water heater Everything went well, i turned on the cold input and wham, water just started gushing out of the relief valve All the specs line up on the valves (150 psi), in fact the new one has a higher btu/hr rating by a long shot (500,000 old vs 934,000 new) I cannot see any water or wetness when looking closely at the valve connection at the top
I am not sure where the water could be leaking inside the unit The relief valve is connected to pipe that does not drain into the pan btw It leaves the room through the wall behind the water heater and does not show any signs of leakage. We have a 3 year old water heater and it recently started leaking from the pressure relieve valve after we use hot water I replaced the pressure relief valve, have adjusted the temperature down but it still happening. Leaky water heater pressure relief valve (about a quart a month)
I am thinking maybe some debris got stuck in it So rather than buy one and install it next time i drain the tank i would rather be forced to buy one after failing to fix this. Most of the resources i found have expansion tanks and pressure relief valves installed on top of the water heater
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