Your water heater s relief valve can start leaking for one of two reasons.
Furnace pressure relief valve dripping.
Both circumstances should be taken very seriously.
Here are possible causes and solutions to fix such a problem.
This safety valve should be checked at least every three months.
These valves may look identical but they re set to go off at 30 psi.
Drain water from the boiler in order to reduce the pressure.
There are a lot of different things that may have caused your water pressure relief valve to begin to leak.
If the system pressure is 30 psig and the relief valve rated for 40 psig is leaking the relief valve is most likely defective.
So if you see water actually spilling or even if it s just dripping at the temperature pressure relief valve on your heating boiler or water heater the cause needs to be found and fixed promptly and it may be appropriate to install a new t p valve also called tpr valve after those repairs are complete.
You may find that your water pressure relief valve may begin to leak after it has been flushed.
In the first case the valve will drain water out of the discharge pipe as explained above.
Open the drain valve on the boiler to drain the.
How to fix a leaking boiler pressure relief valve step 1.
In this example the relief valve should be at 40 psig or higher.
Shut down the power to the boiler.
The relief valve is working the way it s intended and water drained to reduce the pressure inside the tank.
There are two potential causes for this circumstance.
Many hydronic boilers are shipped with a 30 psig relief valve from the factory.
Leaking of the pressure relief valve due to this condition is normally cyclical as the boiler temperature heats and cools.
Another troubleshooting task i perform is watching the tridicator or pta gauge while the boiler is firing and heating the water.
Eventually everything will give in to wear and tear.
There s a problem with the valve such as a faulty seal and the water is unintentionally leaking.
It may also begin to leak after time or if it was not installed properly.
It all comes down to knowing how to fix it.
The relief valve is defective.
If a pressure relief valve for a boiler is accidentally installed on a water heater it will leak like crazy from the start.
A typical cause is the cold pressure of the boiler water system is higher than the setpoint of the expansion tank which are typically designed with a 12psi setpoint.
