We use water heaters in our homes no matter where we live in. Although water heaters are not that essential in countries where a hot climate is a norm. But if you live in an atmosphere where winter is just in an arm’s length, a water heater is a must have as it can keep you and your family away from unwanted illnesses such as cold and cough due to seasonal allergies.
Most of these water heaters are equipped with a built-in temperature pressure relief valve. This valve is generally referred to as the TPR valve by plumbers. It’s an essential tool when it comes to preventing our hot water heater leaking from overflow pipe. This TPR valve’s job is to balance out the pressure when there are imbalances inside your heater. The plumbing services from bluelineplumbersgillingham.co.uk are always recommended. They have engineers that have been in the industry for over 30 years and provide a stellar service to their customers.
Your water heater’s leakage solution is here, not so fast
Water heating leaking can be an issue for you if your temperature pressure relief valve has some sort of a malfunction. If your TPR valve is not functioning as it should, then water in your tank could even explode at a time where the load is off the chain. This happens due to the imbalance of pressure that’s created inside and hence you face the problem of hot water heater leaking.
A defective overflow valve can be pinpointed if water leaking from hot water heater is an issue you are going through. Although some homeowners take this Idea as a hard and fast rule and come into a quick conclusion that the overflow valve is defective. But I advise you not to go only on that assumption because we will have to conduct more tests to confirm that idea because let’s face it, a leaking water heater would be the last thing you’d want.
The reasons for your hot water heater leaking from overflow pipe
With experience, I can say that the number one cause of your leaking hot water heater linking Issue is because it’s gone way past its productive age period. We must adhere to this factor and try not to put it to use beyond its usable time period.
The second reason for your water heater leak is the hot water’s dripping Issue is minerals. These minerals get accumulated over the years with usage. The third reason of a leaking hot water tank is the formation of various types of deposits getting stagnated inside your TPR valve.
Both of these factors, minerals and deposits get accumulated over time without our knowledge. Of course, we cannot say what’s happening inside our temperature relief valve. But we can’t leave it at that and do nothing about it till something bad happens.
Why checking your TPR valve is necessary
Both deposits and Minerals mainly set inside the temperature pressure relief valve because those are included in our water. The water we get from our supply lines isn’t that clean. So, it’s normal to have these kinds of deposits to take control over our valve.
That’s the main reason why you should check your temperature pressure relief valve regularly without fail. This is especially true for homeowners since ensuring the safety of your temperature pressure relief valve will reduce the risk of your hot water heater leaking from overflow pipe.
I am not saying that you should replace your temperature pressure relief valve every single year. But you need to get it checked and tested annually. If there are any errors or malfunctions, then replace the valve accordingly. So, this annual checkup of your TPR valve is necessary for identifying the need of a replacement so that you don’t have to go through issues like overflow pipe leaking on hot water heater.
Who should be replacing the TPR valve?
Now that you have done all the testing and checking of the temperature pressure relief valve, you can now decide whether or not to replace it. Feel free to get the opinion of plumber or a water heater technician, especially true if you have not done it before. So therefore, it’s a good idea to call your hot water heater company and ask for a technician.
But if you want to give it a shot and start checking the TPR Valve in a DIY fashion, feel free to get it tested by yourself. And yes, this will definitely help you in saving some money or getting the water heater leaking water fixed.
Now that you have completed testing and checking your temperature pressure relief valve, you can now decide whether or not to replace it. If you feel that the TPR valve needs to be replaced, then go ahead with it ASAP because the longer you wait, the longer your hot water heater leaking from overflow pipe issue will take the upper hand.
Whether to replace or not to replace, that’s the question
Before solving that question, first remove about 2 cups of water out of the tank for testing purposes. Just be mindful that this is boiling water. You can eliminate the risk of burning yourself by wearing a pair of rubber gloves for safety.
Now you can slowly remove the valve. When you’re doing this, if it does not eliminate any water out, that could be a sign that the valve is blocked. If it is blocked, then we must replace the valve immediately.
So, we must replace the valve if it’s blocked. But what can you do in case if there is a situation where water flows smoothly and yet the water leaking from hot water heater issue is still present? Then again this is also another situation where we must still consider replacing the valve
Although it is not common to experience a leakage from the hot water heater when there is a smooth water flow. There have been some instances of issues in water heaters due to lack of above knowledge. We have now found the answers for the question of whether to replace or not to replace by considering both of the above scenarios.
But deciding whether or not to replace the temperature pressure relief valve is sometimes tricky even for technicians who has handled so many water heaters before. This is because hot water heaters defer from features of its functionality based on brands.
And in case if you feel that you are unable to do the replacement by yourself, you can glance at the owner’s manual of your water heater. Once you go through the whole book, you will find out that it isn’t something that’s going to take all of your evening.
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