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Joe Joe is offline
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Default Water heater pop off valve issue

3 days ago I noticed water leaking out of the pop off valve on my three year
old hot water heater. My first thought was bad pop off valve so I replaced
it. The problem persisted. Then I thought maybe the thermostat was sticking
on and over heating the water so I bought a thermometer and check the water
temp at the closest faucet to the tank and the water was 130 deg with the
tank set on 125. I then thought I must be having water pressure spikes so I
bought a pressure tester and screwed it into the pop off valve outlet and
just left the pop off valve open. Initially there was only 75 pounds of
pressure. I went back and checked an hour later and the gauge showed the
pressure had been as high as 160 pounds. I thought ok my water pressure
regulator had bad so I replaced the regulator coming into the house and the
pressure was 60 pounds initially. I come back and hour later and the
pressure gage had gone up to 200 pounds which tells me if the gauge had not
been there the pop off valve would have again let water escape as it is
designed to pop at 150 PSI or 210 degrees. The hot water in my house is not
scalding hot by a long shot.

Where do I go from here? Why is so much pressure building up in my water
heater?

Thanks Joe