Hot water leak

[alex rodriguez]

Friend found a hot water heater leak. Leak is coming from the T at the upper and lower joints from cpvc to metal adapters. The metal to metal towards the pressure relief has no leaks. Looking for some extra thoughts on my plan of action.... looking to remove the T and replace with a cpvc tee and re-do the upper and lower connections, straight cpvc glued. For the middle T towards the pressure relief, will put a cpvc to male adapter and plumbers tape and pipe dope the connect to the union there.

 

[Jadnashua]

If you have what I think you have, it is unsafe, won't meet code, and definitely needs to be redone, but not quite like you're planning. Galvanized fittings in potable water will ALWAYS end up rusting. IT can take awhile, but it is essentially inevitable. Never a good idea.

It appears that you're taking your hot water out from the port designed to hold the T&P valve (what you labeled as the pressure relief). If that's what you have, that creates several issues:
- the top outlet will have the hottest water for longer, by tapping it below, you'll not get the full hot water volume out of the tank before it cools off
- more important, I think that you'll find CPVC is not rated for water above about 200-degrees. The T&P valve doesn't open until it gets to 212, and could get hotter during a fault. I don't think you'll find using CPVC is a good idea for that drain line! And, the probe from the T&P valve should be poking inside the tank, not in that branch outside.

So, does the WH have a top outlet? If it does, take your outlet from that. Relocate the T&P valve where it's supposed to be in that side port (on some, it is installed in a separate top port), and preferably, use copper as the outlet. If the instructions allow cpvc, okay, but keep in mind, if that ever does open as a result of overheating, it could be spewing steam, and that could cause all sorts of safety issues if the pipe gets damaged in the process.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Fitter30]

Cpvc is rated 175* max. They do make cpvc male pipe adaptors with stainless steel threads.

 

[Reach4]

Can anyone advise if this is the best way to approach this?

What is that white pipe at the top? Is that 1.05 inch OD (3/4 inch PVC)? The 3/4 inch CPVC is 0.875 OD. A PVC pipe will not glue into a regular CPVC tee.

Is this pressure relief in lieu of a thermal expansion tank?

 

[Jeff H Young]

Alex what is this? is this a water heater? never saw a t and p like that . I guess you can just cut it out and put plastic but I cant even tell what your working on. I dont think an all plastic male adapter can be used but we dont use much cpvc lately. also my code dosent allow plastic withen 18 inches of heater on the t and p discharge

 

[Reach4]

Alex what is this? is this a water heater? never saw a t and p like that . I guess you can just cut it out and put plastic but I cant even tell what your working on. I dont think an all plastic male adapter can be used but we dont use much cpvc lately. also my code dosent allow plastic withen 18 inches of heater on the t and p discharge

I suspect it opens at something like this https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.supplyhouse.com/product_files/Sharkbite-25704LF-Install-Instructions.pdf

Opening at about 125 psi to release the pressure from normal thermal expansion. Not the product for a drought area.

 

[Jeff H Young]

I suspect it opens at something like this https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.supplyhouse.com/product_files/Sharkbite-25704LF-Install-Instructions.pdf

Opening at about 125 psi to release the pressure from normal thermal expansion. Not the product for a drought area.

we use expansion tanks. You think drought area not allowed ? it cant waste but a tiny amount . Could be we dont have basements with floor drains . But Ive never installed these on homes. thanks for the clarity!

 

[alex rodriguez]

If you have what I think you have, it is unsafe, won't meet code, and definitely needs to be redone, but not quite like you're planning. Galvanized fittings in potable water will ALWAYS end up rusting. IT can take awhile, but it is essentially inevitable. Never a good idea.

It appears that you're taking your hot water out from the port designed to hold the T&P valve (what you labeled as the pressure relief). If that's what you have, that creates several issues:
- the top outlet will have the hottest water for longer, by tapping it below, you'll not get the full hot water volume out of the tank before it cools off
- more important, I think that you'll find CPVC is not rated for water above about 200-degrees. The T&P valve doesn't open until it gets to 212, and could get hotter during a fault. I don't think you'll find using CPVC is a good idea for that drain line! And, the probe from the T&P valve should be poking inside the tank, not in that branch outside.

So, does the WH have a top outlet? If it does, take your outlet from that. Relocate the T&P valve where it's supposed to be in that side port (on some, it is installed in a separate top port), and preferably, use copper as the outlet. If the instructions allow cpvc, okay, but keep in mind, if that ever does open as a result of overheating, it could be spewing steam, and that could cause all sorts of safety issues if the pipe gets damaged in the process.

Thanks for the reply. This is a gas hot water heater. Model shown in the photo, there is only one hot outlet and the manual shows adding the T&P on this outlet anywhere before a control valve. The line in question is the single hot outlet, which then splits at the T into the pressure relief line with T&P and the continuation of the hot beneath it.

 

[Jadnashua]

You do want the probe to be as close as possible to the tank so it can get as accurate a sense for the tank's temperature as possible. I would try a T with the branch going to your hot water distribution, and the straight through to mount the T&P valve with the probe going straight into the tank. The T&P is set to open at 215, I think I said 212 earlier. WIth water pressure, the boiling point is higher. You don't want the water to flash to steam, so if it does open, and it's already over the boiling point, it will flash to steam when the valve opens. That can be dangerous and messy if the pipe was not designed to handle the temperature. Water expands huge amounts when it goes from liquid to gas state. A T&P valve will also open if the pressure exceeds 150-psi.

If the water was hot, why buy a hot water heater? Hot and heater are redundant...

 

[Jeff H Young]

Im pretty much over this problem . just go ahead and run your cpvc

 

[alex rodriguez]

You do want the probe to be as close as possible to the tank so it can get as accurate a sense for the tank's temperature as possible. I would try a T with the branch going to your hot water distribution, and the straight through to mount the T&P valve with the probe going straight into the tank. The T&P is set to open at 215, I think I said 212 earlier. WIth water pressure, the boiling point is higher. You don't want the water to flash to steam, so if it does open, and it's already over the boiling point, it will flash to steam when the valve opens. That can be dangerous and messy if the pipe was not designed to handle the temperature. Water expands huge amounts when it goes from liquid to gas state. A T&P valve will also open if the pressure exceeds 150-psi.

If the water was hot, why buy a hot water heater? Hot and heater are redundant...

 

[DavidDeBord]

Uhhhhh,... Aren't there restrictions on the materials used for the discharge pipe on a T & P, & isn't there supposed to not be, any "Restrictive Turns", such as 90s, TEEs, etc. ?

And, isn't that discharge from a T & P supposed to not be directly connected to any drain/waste system?

 

[Jeff H Young]

Uhhhhh,... Aren't there restrictions on the materials used for the discharge pipe on a T & P, & isn't there supposed to not be, any "Restrictive Turns", such as 90s, TEEs, etc. ?

And, isn't that discharge from a T & P supposed to not be directly connected to any drain/waste system?

Its not a T&P