David wrote:
Hopefully someone can offer some guidance on a problem I have with my
water heater.

It would seem that the boneheads that built my house 7 years ago
failed to put the hot water heater in a location where the T&P relief
valve can safely dump water to a drain. The water heater is installed
in a small closet, below grade, and was placed on top of carpeting,
underlay, and then the concrete foundation. I didn't even realize
that it was normal for the T&P relief valve to activate periodically -
I thought it was in the event of a catastrophic failure, but I now
know that's not the case.

I just noticed that the carpeting is completely soaked, and there's
mold growing in the carpet. I'm pretty sure it's not leaking from
anywhere, so I have to assume the T&P relief valve is doing its thing.

There's no drain anywhere near the heater. Is there another
alternative to placing a bucket under the drain tube?

On a side note, I'm not quite sure why the T&P valve would be
activating so much lately, unless it's because we've been using more
hot water since the arrival of our first child. I don't think the
moisture problem in the water heater closet has been going on for
long. I've been checking the drain tube periodically, and it doesn't
appear there's a slow leak or anything.

Any advice?


Normally, the T&P should never open.

The single most frequent cause of discharge
is excessive pressure caused by thermal expansion.
If you are on city water where pressure
is very high and you have a PRV (regulator) ,
the expansion of water as the tank heats has nowhere
to go. The pressure builds until the T&P valve opens.

The solution is relatively painless:
http://www.zurn.com/pages/catalog.as...OperationID=11
The XT model expansion tank is added to the piping
on the Cold inlet to the tank.

I've just skimmed over this topic. There are a host
of considerations regarding service pressure and PRV's
that may need to be looked at.

As for where to drain the discharge, some jurisdictions
will permit discharge to open air outside (pipe thru wall).

Jim