Hello. I'm a new contributor to the forum, though I've gotten good advice from previous postings.
I'm having a recurring problem with discharge from my water heater's pressure relief valve. After our water company installed a new meter about 6 weeks ago, we developed our first PRV leak. Our water heater was 12+ years old, so we decided to have it replaced. (We've since learned from other postings that this might have been unnecessary.) We had a new water heater installed by a plumber. Within a day or two, the new PRV was also leaking. The plumber installed an expansion tank about a month ago. That seemed to solve the problem until a few days ago when the PRV started leaking again. So we have a new gas hot water heater (with its new pressure relief valve), a new expansion tank and we still have a leak.
My husband thinks the expansion tank might be full and we're right back to where we started. Do these things fail very often? It seems like a pretty simple device. The plumber says the PRV might be faulty and he suggested that we replace it with a "stronger" valve. I'm not sure that's a good idea, especially if the expansion tank has failed.
I appreciate any thoughts.
I'm having a recurring problem with discharge from my water heater's pressure relief valve. After our water company installed a new meter about 6 weeks ago, we developed our first PRV leak. Our water heater was 12+ years old, so we decided to have it replaced. (We've since learned from other postings that this might have been unnecessary.) We had a new water heater installed by a plumber. Within a day or two, the new PRV was also leaking. The plumber installed an expansion tank about a month ago. That seemed to solve the problem until a few days ago when the PRV started leaking again. So we have a new gas hot water heater (with its new pressure relief valve), a new expansion tank and we still have a leak.
My husband thinks the expansion tank might be full and we're right back to where we started. Do these things fail very often? It seems like a pretty simple device. The plumber says the PRV might be faulty and he suggested that we replace it with a "stronger" valve. I'm not sure that's a good idea, especially if the expansion tank has failed.
I appreciate any thoughts.