Georgia Trail Riders Forum
MEMBERS DISCUSSION AREA => General Discussion => Topic started by: kvom on September 21, 2017, 12:33:26 PM
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So there's a small drain pipe at the base of the house that's been dripping luke-warm water for a while. Wife is all panicky, goes to Lowes where she's told our gas water heater must be going bad. I call Home Depot who relays me to a local contractor; the woman at the office says their install prices start at $399, but I need an appointment to get an actual quote.
Does anyone here know whether gas water heaters have external drains, and if so whether draining water precedes failure?
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Your temperature pressure relief valve might be going bad. It's usually on the side of your water heater that has a small aluminum valve that pops out if the heater is going bad. It's designed to relieve excessive pressure in the tank
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I had this same thing and mine (after replacing the relief valve once) was the valve coming from the main water line (which steps down the pressure) to the house, was going bad, letting too much pressure in the overall house line. Have them check that as well. Good luck!
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Edit, sounds like the PRV if its piped out
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Your temperature pressure relief valve might be going bad. It's usually on the side of your water heater that has a small aluminum valve that pops out if the heater is going bad. It's designed to relieve excessive pressure in the tank
Kirk
I had the same symptom as you, slight dripping of water at an outside drain pipe.
It was my pressure relief valve going bad. Had nothing to do with my water heater.
have a plumber come out and diagnose
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I have someone coming out tomorrow afternoon. The valve is soldered to a series of copper pipes that go up into the ceiling and then out. No DIY job here to replace the valve.
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I have someone coming out tomorrow afternoon. The valve is soldered to a series of copper pipes that go up into the ceiling and then out. No DIY job here to replace the valve.
Kirk, I misread, I thought it was at the base of the water heater, but you wrote base of the house,
the pipe that is plumbed out is the PRV as Tony says, and it does sound like it is starting to leak...
You can purge it and hope it reseats, if you're feeling lucky.
A plumber can replace it, but how old is it?
My 12 year old at the lake just quit from the IRMA Outage, so I'm going tonight to try and see if I can reset it on the internal thermostat, or decide if I'm going to replace the heating elements and thermostats... $35 vs $500, but 12 years on a well is about all you can hope for. Its a shorty under the house, PITA!
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Came back from my trip this weekend to our water heater busted. The element on the front of the heater has an o-ring inside that started leaking which lead to it bursting.
It flooded my mud room & garage. Pissed. I paid $850 out the door for a 50 gallon gas water heater.
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Came back from my trip this weekend to our water heater busted. The element on the front of the heater has an o-ring inside that started leaking which lead to it bursting.
It flooded my mud room & garage. Pissed. I paid $850 out the door for a 50 gallon gas water heater.
I put a tankless in a while back, great investment, never run out of hot water.
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Came back from my trip this weekend to our water heater busted. The element on the front of the heater has an o-ring inside that started leaking which lead to it bursting.
It flooded my mud room & garage. Pissed. I paid $850 out the door for a 50 gallon gas water heater.
I put a tankless in a while back, great investment, never run out of hot water.
Even with multiple things going at the same time: shower, dishwasher, and washing machine? Did it save you gas/power cost?
Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
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Came back from my trip this weekend to our water heater busted. The element on the front of the heater has an o-ring inside that started leaking which lead to it bursting.
It flooded my mud room & garage. Pissed. I paid $850 out the door for a 50 gallon gas water heater.
I put a tankless in a while back, great investment, never run out of hot water.
Even with multiple things going at the same time: shower, dishwasher, and washing machine? Did it save you gas/power cost?
Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
yep, it does take a bit longer for the hot water to reach the other side of the house, but last xmas, 3 showers going and wife in kitchen running dishwasher and laundry going, everyone had hot water. took me about 5-6 years to re-cop the cost. my gas bill is almost nothing. not heating standing water when no one is home. love it. we had to get a larger one based on the # of full baths and everything else we wanted. the temp is controlled by a electic thurmastat, with a battery back up, so if we lose power we still get hot water. :)
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Came back from my trip this weekend to our water heater busted. The element on the front of the heater has an o-ring inside that started leaking which lead to it bursting.
It flooded my mud room & garage. Pissed. I paid $850 out the door for a 50 gallon gas water heater.
I put a tankless in a while back, great investment, never run out of hot water.
Even with multiple things going at the same time: shower, dishwasher, and washing machine? Did it save you gas/power cost?
Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
yep, it does take a bit longer for the hot water to reach the other side of the house, but last xmas, 3 showers going and wife in kitchen running dishwasher and laundry going, everyone had hot water. took me about 5-6 years to re-cop the cost. my gas bill is almost nothing. not heating standing water when no one is home. love it. we had to get a larger one based on the # of full baths and everything else we wanted. the temp is controlled by a electic thurmastat, with a battery back up, so if we lose power we still get hot water. :)
Cost estimate rounded up to the nearest hundred
Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
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Came back from my trip this weekend to our water heater busted. The element on the front of the heater has an o-ring inside that started leaking which lead to it bursting.
It flooded my mud room & garage. Pissed. I paid $850 out the door for a 50 gallon gas water heater.
I put a tankless in a while back, great investment, never run out of hot water.
Even with multiple things going at the same time: shower, dishwasher, and washing machine? Did it save you gas/power cost?
Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
yep, it does take a bit longer for the hot water to reach the other side of the house, but last xmas, 3 showers going and wife in kitchen running dishwasher and laundry going, everyone had hot water. took me about 5-6 years to re-cop the cost. my gas bill is almost nothing. not heating standing water when no one is home. love it. we had to get a larger one based on the # of full baths and everything else we wanted. the temp is controlled by a electic thurmastat, with a battery back up, so if we lose power we still get hot water. :)
Cost estimate rounded up to the nearest hundred
Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
I need to check with the wife, we also had to upgrade the gas line as the house is over 30 years old and was not to code, i will check with the wife when i get home on the cost, i forget.
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Came back from my trip this weekend to our water heater busted. The element on the front of the heater has an o-ring inside that started leaking which lead to it bursting.
It flooded my mud room & garage. Pissed. I paid $850 out the door for a 50 gallon gas water heater.
I put a tankless in a while back, great investment, never run out of hot water.
Even with multiple things going at the same time: shower, dishwasher, and washing machine? Did it save you gas/power cost?
Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
yep, it does take a bit longer for the hot water to reach the other side of the house, but last xmas, 3 showers going and wife in kitchen running dishwasher and laundry going, everyone had hot water. took me about 5-6 years to re-cop the cost. my gas bill is almost nothing. not heating standing water when no one is home. love it. we had to get a larger one based on the # of full baths and everything else we wanted. the temp is controlled by a electic thurmastat, with a battery back up, so if we lose power we still get hot water. :)
Cost estimate rounded up to the nearest hundred
Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
I need to check with the wife, we also had to upgrade the gas line as the house is over 30 years old and was not to code, i will check with the wife when i get home on the cost, i forget.
Thanks, sir.
Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
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My electric water heater went out last Thanksgiving. I called one guy & he want $8k to install a on demand type. That was to upgrade my electric & for a larger water heater than I actually needed. //nlnnn//
I got a 60 gallon from work & put it in after a few hours. Cost me $250.
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My electrician said he's put in a ton of 400 amp services bc people were doing an electric on demand water heater. He said they use a 200 amp breaker and use a ton of power
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I wonder what that costs?
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Came back from my trip this weekend to our water heater busted. The element on the front of the heater has an o-ring inside that started leaking which lead to it bursting.
It flooded my mud room & garage. Pissed. I paid $850 out the door for a 50 gallon gas water heater.
I put a tankless in a while back, great investment, never run out of hot water.
Even with multiple things going at the same time: shower, dishwasher, and washing machine? Did it save you gas/power cost?
Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
yep, it does take a bit longer for the hot water to reach the other side of the house, but last xmas, 3 showers going and wife in kitchen running dishwasher and laundry going, everyone had hot water. took me about 5-6 years to re-cop the cost. my gas bill is almost nothing. not heating standing water when no one is home. love it. we had to get a larger one based on the # of full baths and everything else we wanted. the temp is controlled by a electic thurmastat, with a battery back up, so if we lose power we still get hot water. :)
Cost estimate rounded up to the nearest hundred
Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
I need to check with the wife, we also had to upgrade the gas line as the house is over 30 years old and was not to code, i will check with the wife when i get home on the cost, i forget.
Thanks, sir.
Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
@clark123456 she said, not counting the gas line upgrade, about 2100 she is not sure what the gas mods that had to be made due to the house being so old. this was about 11 years ago
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Thx....
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It pays back in 20 years and they have to be replaced too.
19 if you have teenage daughters.
Utility companies usually have rebates
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The unit itself is fairly inexpensive. $100- $1000. I've priced them at work.
The $100 model is for like a camper......or bus.
The $1k should be good for a fairly large ranch house.
Where they get you is the power upgrades needed to energize the things.