Is my water heater about to flood the house?

[DIYer101]

I noticed a few drops of water for the first time ever (have only owned the house less than a year, so maybe it's normal...), and I'm wondering if this is a bad sign? So far it's a drop or two coming out of that brass spigot towards the right.

I just got out of the shower if that matters. Yes, I realize the heater is very old and it's on a long list of things to get fixed. Just wondering if I want to avoid leaving town before I get a new one.

Thank you so much for any info!

 

[Terry]

Is the drain shutoff?

Or is the water coming from the T&P valve?

It kind of depends on where the water came from. That's not a whole lot of water though.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[DIYer101]

I never knew what a drain or T&P valve was until now, but... From what I can tell the drops came from the drain valve (based on what I saw a few hours ago, I'm pretty sure the drain valve was wet/dripping, not the T&P valve). I've never opened/touched the drain valve so not sure why that would happen.

It's not doing anything now - the small amount of water is mostly dried up.

 

[Reach4]

I never knew what a drain or T&P valve was until now, but... From what I can tell the drops came from the drain valve (based on what I saw a few hours ago, I'm pretty sure the drain valve was wet/dripping, not the T&P valve). I've never opened/touched the drain valve so not sure why that would happen.

It's not doing anything now - the small amount of water is mostly dried up.

You can screw a hose to the drain valve to make it easy to distinguish where the water comes from. It is not uncommon for water to come out of the T+P valve, particularly if your house has a pressure reducing valve for the incoming water.

 

[Dj2]

You bought the house a year ago? I know it's not near me, because in my town, selling a house includes a gas water heater with flame guard.
Do yourself a favor, replace the water heater before you go out of town. The leak is not very serious, but this water heater may cause a lot of damage if breaks down while you are away.
My thinking is simple: you will have to get a new water heater no matter what, so why not get it now.

 

[Jadnashua]

The drain valve on its own, shouldn't just start to leak. I might if it had been opened or knocked, but usually not just sitting there. If it's leaking there, it may be from the WH and just appears there.

A T&P valve is a safety device that will open under two safety related situations: if the water temp is too hot, or, if the water pressure gets too high. They can also leak when older, if opened for any reason, because they may not always reseal.

The brand and serial number can give you an idea of how old it is. But, a WH can last anywhere from a few years to several decades, but average on a gas fired one tends to be 7-years or so.

 

[Master Plumber Mark]

that is at least a 2002 water heater... its ok but at the end of its life...

you can just install a hose cap on that brass valve if you so choose to they only cost 2 dollars
at Blowes

 

[WorthFlorida]

[QUOTEI just got out of the shower if that matters. Yes, I realize the heater is very old and it's on a long list of things to get fixed. Just wondering if I want to avoid leaving town before I get a new one.[/QUOTE]

I've had this happen on gas water heaters only but with a very cold water supply. With a heavy use of heated water obviously it gets filled with cold water. As this cold water is heated is must expand and if you do not have an expansion tank the pressure builds up. It will usually spill out of the Temperature and Pressure relief valve (that is what it is designed for) and it be quite a lot of water. However, you only have a few drop so it seems to me that the valve seat of the drain valve cannot hold the pressure above a certain point. Get a garden hose end cap and screw it on the drain valve. After a few day and you see no water in the pan remove the end cap. Any water will tell the story.

 

[DIYer101]

Thanks all. It is definitely coming out of the brass drain. Been out of town a few days but my wife just showered and it dripped again (very small amount, but still). It's probably a game of chicken at this point and I just need to get a new water heater and save myself from the heartache of a major flood.

 

[Jadnashua]

If it is not leaking around the threads where it fits into the tank, just put a cap on it. That valve is typically only used when it's time to replace the tank so it can be drained. It doesn't hurt to flush some crud out annually, but if you've never done that, don't start now. It may be that someone opened it during the home inspection, and some crud got caught between the washer and the seal. If it were new, some replace the valve with a full-port, ball valve. Doing that now, is riskier. You could just open it up momentarily, and might flush the crud off of the washer and seat, but I'd still just put a cap on it.

 

[DIYer101]

Yeah, I'm concerned that the cap might just make me feel better until something worse happens. I think I'm getting spooked just because something has changed, and I've been told "if that thing starts leaking I'd fix it right away" when a plumber was over for something else. The water heater is well over 10 years old, so we're on borrowed time.

The inspection was in March of 2014, and it could've been happening every shower since then, but I just think something has changed and I'll need a new heater within a year or so anyway, so maybe now's the time to bite the bullet. Maybe they'll do a Black Friday deal or something...

 

[Reach4]

A new heater might last 10 or 12 years or more years. The old one might last another 8 or 12 or more years.

I would figure out which hole the water comes out of. It is the T+P valve, there is a good chance you need a thermal expansion tank.

 

[DIYer101]

I didn't realize you could repair these things. It is definitely the drain valve. Pretty sure the water's actually coming from inside the valve as opposed to a nearby hole (you can stick your finger in the drain valve and that's where it's coming from). Nothing's coming from the T&P valve.

 

[Reach4]

I replaced my drain valve with a 3/4 NPT nipple and a full port ball valve for better velocity when flushing, and a garden hose thread brass adapter. Fairly expensive, but I could move that to a new water heater if my heater eventually fails. My current one's date code is from 2002, and the one I put 30 years ago in a different house is still working. That 3/4 NPT is the thread they use. I could have just used a temporary nipple for flushing and put the plastic drain back.

The plastic drain unscrewed fairly easily. I expect the drains on most discarded water heaters are perfectly good. A drain dribbling seems to be uncommon. Yet replacements are available readily and are pretty cheap, so they must have to be changed out often enough.

I suggest combining the change with flushing your WH. Drain. You might want to catch the debris for information or to catch rocks if you are on a well, but that would then have to have a way to handle the water. I used a small utility pump to a hose out of an upstairs window to avoid feeding so much water to my septic. If your water is city water or goes through a filter, just connect a hose to a drain. https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?threads/proper-gas-hot-water-tank-flushing.62015/

You could also consider changing your anode. You would probably need an impact wrench with a 1-1/8 socket.

 

[DIYer101]

OK I've got a plumber coming tomorrow. I'll find out about repairing vs. replacing.

Thanks again all - learned something new here as usual.

 

[Reach4]

OK I've got a plumber coming tomorrow. I'll find out about repairing vs. replacing.

My impression is that it is somewhat rare for plumber to repair a tank water heater.

This symptom may be the exception.

 

[DIYer101]

In fact he came early, and was not surprisingly leaning towards replacement. I'm not looking forward to writing a big check, but (correct me if I'm wrong please) it seems prudent to bring the house into the 21st century. There is no expansion tank or floor drain, so that's like 3 potential things waiting to go wrong. I'm not made out of money, but I am a bit of a fraidy-cat when it comes to preventing a bigger set of problems later...

As a bonus he saw that the boiler relief valve drains directly to the outside, which he suggested was potentially dangerous (apparently could freeze and then blow up if something fails on a cold night). Not sure I'll deal with that out of the same month's pay - the water heater seems more imminent.

 

[Reach4]

I'm not looking forward to writing a big check, but (correct me if I'm wrong please) it seems prudent to bring the house into the 21st century. There is no expansion tank or floor drain, so that's like 3 potential things waiting to go wrong.

A new water heater will have a system to shut it down if it detects an explosive mixture of gas. That sounds good, but then you have a system, that is not so proven by time, that can stop your water heater.

The freeze thing sounds reasonable. That should have been inside in CO to begin with.

You may not need an expansion tank unless the city is known to put check valves on the water meter or line. If you hurry up and get a pressure gauge , you could maybe avoid the expansion tank. If you need the expansion tank and don't have one, the pressure will rise after you use enough hot water and then stop using water. If the pressure does not go up after your shower, you don't need the expansion tank. The plumber may be bound by a rule, even if you don't need the tank currently.

You could have gone to a big box store, and bought a new drain valve off of the shelf for under $10.

Since you are getting the water heater swapped out, you can save time by turning off the water heater in advance, and then draining the water heater.

 

[Jadnashua]

WHere I live, when replacing a WH and wanting to pass local code, you need two things: an expansion tank and a tempering valve. Not all places require these, but they're prudent if you're going to be tearing the plumbing apart. The tempering valve gives you the option of raising the WH storage temperature to make it 'look' bigger if say you are expecting house guests, and might want a bit more hot water for showers. While you could do that without a tempering valve, the hot output would get dangerously high. The tempering valve just mixes in some cold when needed to limit the outlet temperature to your setting (normally, that's 120-degrees to meet code). Research has shown that it also can help prevent the WH from growing bacteria. That's not normally an issue on public water systems, but is a consideration.

The drain valve leaking...again, I'd just cap it. But, since it is old, a new tank should give you some piece of mind. I would NOT try to put a new valve into an old WH, though, if things are a little weak, unscrewing it might create additional problems. I would consider a full-port ball valve on a new WH, though. When you do want to flush it, it will work better, and ultimately reseal more reliably. You might also ask the plumber to loosen the anode rod, then reinstall. Those are usually torqued in there way more than they need to be at the factory, and it's easier to replace it later on if you loosen and reinstall while new.

 

[DIYer101]

Well, dang, now I'm wondering: is it premature to replace the thing? It's supposedly from 2002 or so and there's no floor drain (just a "floor pan to nowhere"). I suppose one alternative is to just install the floor drain and wait for the heater to die.

I don't really know what happens when these things go. Is it a nice controlled flow into the drain, or is it a stronger flow that could end up soaking the floor even if we put in the drain? It sits right above the just-refinished basement...