Water heater drain

[jferello]

Hey all, I just installed a new water heater and I have some questions about drainage for it. I have no floor drain and no ability to get one installed, I do however have an active sump pit.

The existing water heater had no pan and the TPR stem was just pointed straight down to the floor. I plan on finishing the basement, so I don't want any chance the heater will leak. The old one already leaked from the bottom.

I installed the new water heater into a pan and will run PVC from the pan to the sump pit. My question is can I pipe the TPR stem into the same PVC going to sump, not the pan but the pipe itself; if so what would be the best way to do this?

Thanks,
Justin

 

[Jadnashua]

If the T&P valve discharges, the water temp could be WAY above the safe operating range of pvc. The outlet of the discharge pipe cannot have any restrictions. I think I'd just let it run into the new pan you installed.

There are a few companies that make alarms to tell you if there's a leak, and one www.wagsvalve.com will actually shut the water off if it detects more than a little water in the pan. That one does not have an alarm, but it also does not require any power to work.

 

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[Reach4]

Ask yourself are you talking effective and safe, or code compliant and effective and safe.

For materials, 3/4 galvanized from the T+P valve does both and is cheaper than copper. If you discharge the T+P above the pan, I seriously doubt that your pan drain could keep up with the water flow. However T+P is more likely to dribble than it is to flow full blast. So overflowing onto the floor may be an perceptible risk. If you run a pipe all of the way to the pit, it is not allowed to go into the pit, but should have an air gap (I think at least twice the pipe size) that the water falls through before the water hits the flood rim of the pit.

You are supposed to route the T+P discharge to where the discharge is visible.

I am not offering a prescription. Just stuff to consider.

 

[jferello]

I am surprised that having it drain on the floor is code compliant. I wish I could have a floor drain, then I could have a utility sink too. Anyway, I guess I will just use CPVC for the TPR stem into a bucket that has an alarm. I was to be able to test the valve yearly too.

I heard it was against code and unwise anyway to have it drain into the pan, since it can rust the bottom of the water heater if left too long.

 

[Jadnashua]

The T&P valve is a safety device that ideally never opens on its own. If you want to test it, you could put a bucket there. If yours did open, it was either defective, or you had a problem. The most common one is a closed system without an expansion tank.