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Old 07-15-2009, 01:39 AM
 
212 posts, read 697,369 times
Reputation: 137

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A wing nut has never been involved in plumbing.You have a leaking onion.Or union to the novices.You need atleast a smart junior plumber.Attach a hose to the drain valve at bottom of heater,run it wide open for 5 minutes.Then shut the drain valve.Shut the cold supply,open the lowest faucet to drain pressure.Use wrenches(lefty loose,right tight}to open onion(union to rookies}and coat threads and face of onion with pipe dope.Use hands to retighten 3/4's and keep tightening with pipe wrenches until she no spin no more.Open cold supply and got turn off the open faucet.Thata makes a no more problem.Sweet.
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Old 07-15-2009, 02:05 AM
 
3,020 posts, read 25,675,079 times
Reputation: 2806
Quote:
Originally Posted by sandinmyshoes View Post
A wing nut has never been involved in plumbing.
I have known all sorts of wing nuts who claimed they were plumbers. Some were just plain nuts.

The OP has not revealed the offending critter. At this point it is mere speculation as to the real device at hand. Apparently some wing nut got hold of the Lug Nut and did some foul deed.

New houses do not waste money putting unions anywhere. Better guess is the relief valve at this point. Las Vegas would probably give odds on it but not a complete sure bet at this point. The fix is not in.
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Old 07-15-2009, 02:24 AM
 
212 posts, read 697,369 times
Reputation: 137
True Cosmic,valves and unions are a lost art in new construction.Charge an arm and leg,or get a leg chewed off in the bid trap.Save $200 in valves and give the new owner $2,000 in headaches.Including cheap chinese unions that don't seal well even when brandy new.
I've got a Patsy's pizza bet onna lug nut being anna onion.OP woulda a no, a relief a valve izza a thingamajiggy ting.No a lug nut.A lugga nut too a roogie izza an onion.
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Old 07-15-2009, 07:03 PM
 
29,939 posts, read 39,330,273 times
Reputation: 4798
If it's actually a pipe the SharkBiteâ„¢ connectors are a quick fix. If it's the T/P valve and it's leaking that's a way of telling you it's bad, replace it. If it's the union and you can't get it tighter taking it apart and putting a slight bit of plumbers grease (very small amount) will allow you to tighten it up easier. Lots of good advice in here.
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Old 07-15-2009, 07:41 PM
 
Location: NW Nevada
18,126 posts, read 15,517,461 times
Reputation: 17109
Quote:
Originally Posted by Omaha Rocks View Post
I'm going to take a shot at it...

My guess is that you're NOT looking at a "lug nut".

I think what you're looking at is the emergency pressure relief valve on top of the water heater. It will be connected to a copper pipe that goes to the edge of the unit, has a 90 degree elbow and a pipe that goes almost to the floor. It is likely at the end of that pipe where the drips are slowly leaking. (Some water heaters have the relief valve on the side, toward the top.)

The fix is to replace the valve.


Does this look familiar?
Replacing a weeping TPR is not always the answer. First, WHY is it weeping . Do NOT automatically assume the TPR is faulty, that could be a DANGEROUS assumption, especially on a boiler system. It may be doing just what it is supposed to do, relieving overheated water and excess pressure. MAKE SURE! I can't stress this enough. TPR's are CRITICAL safety apputenances. Never assume a weeper is faulty out of hand. Check your return and outgoing temp guages, temp settings, fire cycles etc. Never take chances with boilers, even little ones, or even with standard water heaters. They are not to be taken for granted.
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Old 07-16-2009, 12:38 AM
 
3,020 posts, read 25,675,079 times
Reputation: 2806
Default NVPlumber has good points..............

Quote:
Originally Posted by NVplumber View Post
Replacing a weeping TPR is not always the answer. First, WHY is it weeping . Do NOT automatically assume the TPR is faulty, that could be a DANGEROUS assumption, especially on a boiler system. It may be doing just what it is supposed to do, relieving overheated water and excess pressure. MAKE SURE! I can't stress this enough. TPR's are CRITICAL safety apputenances. Never assume a weeper is faulty out of hand. Check your return and outgoing temp guages, temp settings, fire cycles etc. Never take chances with boilers, even little ones, or even with standard water heaters. They are not to be taken for granted.
Those hot water heater relief valves do not primarly work off pressure. They have a temperature sensor built in and lift hopefully before any steam pressure builds. Usually they always have a setpoint below 212F, some as low as 180F. This is what one looks like, the long thing out the bottom is the temperature sensor. If temperature sensing fails they still can lift to protect based on a spring pressure setting.

Relief Valves

In the OP's case if there was a mis set temperature on the water heater to a very high value or some type of control failure, you should also notice it by extremely hot water thru out the house at various use points. Most new houses will not have mixing valves on the outlet of the water heater but some might. You also have to be able to look at your house hardware and understand what each part is and what it's function is.

Calling the wrong part a Lug Nut can be dangerous to your health. A hot water heater explosion can be equivalent to a couple sticks of dynamite and totally level the typical shack.

The peeps living in the house are the first line of defense for something being wrong.

That term a relief valve is weeping means a number of things.

A. The conditions are real. Something is wrong and the relief valve is getting ready to lift as designed and protect you.

b. Something is wrong with the valve, conditions are normal but the valve is leaking. Same thing, water is coming out. Huge difference in weeping and leaking. You want to be extremely aware of the hot water heater overall temperature. In a failure mode, everything around it will feel abnormally hot. Relief valve weeping is a sure sign, puppy is about to pop. There is some other failure big time. Time to shut it down and call somebody if you don't know what else to do. Even to call the fire dept in an emergency if it looks that bad. In extremely cases as a heater approaches boiling point it will make a "simmering sound" about like a pot getting ready to boil if you listen carefully.

Nothing beats a lil knowledge probably applied. Hopefully with the right terms that most other folks will understand. In the wrong situations it is not a joke. Peeps die in hot water heater accidents.

It actually is your own responsibility to protect yourself as a homeowner. Many don't seem to make the jump from being an apartment rat to being responsible for everything under their own roof. Sort of a learn or burn mentality, the quicker you learn the less you suffer.

Last edited by Cosmic; 07-16-2009 at 12:48 AM..
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Old 07-16-2009, 10:12 AM
 
Location: NW Nevada
18,126 posts, read 15,517,461 times
Reputation: 17109
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cosmic View Post
Those hot water heater relief valves do not primarly work off pressure. They have a temperature sensor built in and lift hopefully before any steam pressure builds. Usually they always have a setpoint below 212F, some as low as 180F. This is what one looks like, the long thing out the bottom is the temperature sensor. If temperature sensing fails they still can lift to protect based on a spring pressure setting.

Relief Valves

In the OP's case if there was a mis set temperature on the water heater to a very high value or some type of control failure, you should also notice it by extremely hot water thru out the house at various use points. Most new houses will not have mixing valves on the outlet of the water heater but some might. You also have to be able to look at your house hardware and understand what each part is and what it's function is.

Calling the wrong part a Lug Nut can be dangerous to your health. A hot water heater explosion can be equivalent to a couple sticks of dynamite and totally level the typical shack.

The peeps living in the house are the first line of defense for something being wrong.

That term a relief valve is weeping means a number of things.

A. The conditions are real. Something is wrong and the relief valve is getting ready to lift as designed and protect you.

b. Something is wrong with the valve, conditions are normal but the valve is leaking. Same thing, water is coming out. Huge difference in weeping and leaking. You want to be extremely aware of the hot water heater overall temperature. In a failure mode, everything around it will feel abnormally hot. Relief valve weeping is a sure sign, puppy is about to pop. There is some other failure big time. Time to shut it down and call somebody if you don't know what else to do. Even to call the fire dept in an emergency if it looks that bad. In extremely cases as a heater approaches boiling point it will make a "simmering sound" about like a pot getting ready to boil if you listen carefully.

Nothing beats a lil knowledge probably applied. Hopefully with the right terms that most other folks will understand. In the wrong situations it is not a joke. Peeps die in hot water heater accidents.

It actually is your own responsibility to protect yourself as a homeowner. Many don't seem to make the jump from being an apartment rat to being responsible for everything under their own roof. Sort of a learn or burn mentality, the quicker you learn the less you suffer.
I was called on a situation with a gas W/H TPR leaking once, when I got there the tenant informed me he had 'fixed' the problem, but the unit would not light back off. OK, I says, and upon examining the thing I cringed. His 'repair' consisted of removing the 'offending' TPR( it was doing what it was supposed to do) and installing a closed bib valve in it's place. The W/H was locked out at the gas control on the over fire limit. Thankfully. Had it lit back off it could have easily turned this mobile home to a pile of matchsticks. As you said, Cosmic, there is a differnce twixt leaking and weeping. In this particular case, the valve had lifted and was letting steam off. I shudder to think of what would have happened had the unit not locked itself out or if the guy had bypassed something to make it light anyway (seen that happen to).
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Old 07-16-2009, 05:43 PM
 
29,939 posts, read 39,330,273 times
Reputation: 4798

YouTube - Mythbusters water heater

If I remember correctly water expands, as it boils, 1100 times the volume of when it's liquid.
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Old 09-08-2012, 11:23 AM
 
1 posts, read 1,073 times
Reputation: 10
Cosmic is a condescending creep who is not as smart as he thinks he is. He mentioned a HOT water heater. If the water is hot why heat it.

Cosmic--Please keep in mind if someone is asking for help, it is because they are not experts like you THINK you are.
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Old 09-08-2012, 01:09 PM
 
Location: Knoxville
4,705 posts, read 25,187,887 times
Reputation: 6129
You waited over three years (this thread is over three years old) to call someone a creep??
As a purely technical note, some of the water in the tank is already HOT, so the water heater is actually heating HOT water was well as the cold water coming into the tank.

I'm a home inspector, and calling it a hot water heater is a peeve of mine also, but I give most people a little slack. I still hear people call a refrigerator an ice box too. Life is too short to be so petty IMHO.
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