Water Heater Pop Off Valve

Close the cold water cut off valve going into the water heater.

Water heater pop off valve.

This valve allows water or steam to escape from the water heater if the temperature or pressure gets too high. So when there s a lot of pressure being built inside our electric water heater pressure relief valve it will eventually start leaking water outwards. My hot water heater is leaking from the pop off valve i have replaced it several times and now i have a new heater and guess what it is leaking through the pop off valve. This prevents a water heater from exploding or turning into a missile.

The second reason a water heater relief valve leaks is the water has gotten too hot if the temperature of the water in the water heater reaches above 210 degrees f the relief valve will leak or even blow off this is why the outlet of the relief valve must be piped to about 6 inches from the ground you would not want to get a blast of 210 degree f water in the face. If you do try to fix it here are the basic steps involved. But if the termination of the piping is not readily visible such as if it is located under the house the water will continue to drain until the homeowner gets an amazing electric or gas bill and goes searching for the reason. This extra amount of pressure causes the water to expand although it s a closed system that we have in electric water heaters.

First turn off the gas to the water heater or flip the breaker if it s electric. Either the valve was triggered to open because of excessive temperature or pressure or the valve itself is faulty. Technically speaking when a water heater warms the water inside the tank it builds up quite a good amount of pressure. Your water heater s relief valve can start leaking for one of two reasons.

In the first case the valve will drain water out of the discharge pipe as explained above. Open the valve at the bottom and the pressure relief valve for a minute to drain a little.