Hello all...

I have an on-demand gas fired water heater. It is an Aquastar, model
# AQ 125-B. Recently, it has been leaking through what I believe to be a drain
valve. When I run the hot water, the valve spews and won't shut off. I have to
shut down the supply line and after I wait a bit it will cease leaking.
I want to know the purpose of this valve, and why it's 'acting up' in this
manner.

Photo of valve: http://i37.tinypic.com/s41hrm.jpg

Photo of heater: http://i34.tinypic.com/30t1a43.jpg

The valve is mounted about 12" below the heater. Unit
is a wall mount. Valve is at the end of a horizontal cross
member that's 'teed' off the vertical pipe that I assume is
the outlet from the heater.

Hoping I can fix this myself. I've done my share of soldering
pipe in the past. This fitting appears to be glued, rather than soldered.
It is threaded.
I don't want to call a plumber.


TIA
--
Steve M

"mcsteve" wrote in message
...
Hello all...

I have an on-demand gas fired water heater. It is an Aquastar, model
# AQ 125-B. Recently, it has been leaking through what I believe to be a
drain
valve. When I run the hot water, the valve spews and won't shut off. I
have to
shut down the supply line and after I wait a bit it will cease leaking.
I want to know the purpose of this valve, and why it's 'acting up' in
this
manner.

Photo of valve: http://i37.tinypic.com/s41hrm.jpg

Photo of heater: http://i34.tinypic.com/30t1a43.jpg

The valve is mounted about 12" below the heater. Unit
is a wall mount. Valve is at the end of a horizontal cross
member that's 'teed' off the vertical pipe that I assume is
the outlet from the heater.

Hoping I can fix this myself. I've done my share of soldering
pipe in the past. This fitting appears to be glued, rather than soldered.
It is threaded.
I don't want to call a plumber.


TIA
--
Steve M

That's a pressure relief valve, it blows off on high temperature or
pressure. Either a control in the unit is allowing the temperature or water
pressure to rise beyond what it should, and the valve is just doing what
it's there for, or the valve has gone bad. The valve screws on to the
fitting and appears to have some type of dope or sealant on it. There is
also a possibility that the building water pressure is to high feeding into
the heater

"RBM" wrote:
That's a pressure relief valve, it blows off on high temperature or
pressure. Either a control in the unit is allowing the temperature or water
pressure to rise beyond what it should, and the valve is just doing what
it's there for, or the valve has gone bad. The valve screws on to the
fitting and appears to have some type of dope or sealant on it. There is
also a possibility that the building water pressure is to high feeding into
the heater


My best guess was that it might be an over-temp/pressure valve. Similar
to a thermostat in a car. I think it might be in need of replacement. I lowered
the temp on the heater, and it seems to be OK. Except, that the water temp
is now a bit too low for my liking. I also figured it was threaded and 'doped' from
it's appearance. Might just head off to the plumbing supply joint in the a.m.,
a get a replacement. I doubt it's a pressure problem. The house is on it's
own well, with a fairly elaborate filtration system.
I ain't afraid of no pipes.

--
Steve M

mcsteve wrote:
"RBM" wrote:
That's a pressure relief valve, it blows off on high temperature or
pressure. Either a control in the unit is allowing the temperature or water
pressure to rise beyond what it should, and the valve is just doing what
it's there for, or the valve has gone bad. The valve screws on to the
fitting and appears to have some type of dope or sealant on it. There is
also a possibility that the building water pressure is to high feeding into
the heater


My best guess was that it might be an over-temp/pressure valve. Similar
to a thermostat in a car. I think it might be in need of replacement. I lowered
the temp on the heater, and it seems to be OK. Except, that the water temp
is now a bit too low for my liking. I also figured it was threaded and 'doped' from
it's appearance. Might just head off to the plumbing supply joint in the a.m.,
a get a replacement. I doubt it's a pressure problem. The house is on it's
own well, with a fairly elaborate filtration system.
I ain't afraid of no pipes.

--
Steve M

Sure it's an overpressure valve, they need regular maintenance dependant
on the quality of the water supply. They just "cake up" with calcium or
salts in general, they are spring loaded and so need to be properly set
up with a pressure test. INMHO if you count the number of turns to
remove the spring loaded plunger valve and re-install with the same
number of turns after cleaning up it should be within a practical
distance of the original setting. Of course the correct way is to use a
pressure tester and calibrate it to your local code setting. The
instructions for these usually say to operate the lever once a month or
whatever to clean it but in my experience it becomes necessary to "huck"
'em out when you see the build up of salt around the outlet and pipe
connection.

Cheers .......... Rheilly P

It's a pressure relief safety valve.

Turn the water off. Drain the tank. Take off the old valve using two
wrenches (probably pipe wrenches, but channel locks or crescent wrenches may
work if that's what you have) -- one to hold the copper pipe fitting so it
doesn't twist, and one to turn the valve to unscrew it out. Take it to a
hardware store and buy a replacement. Get either pipe dope or Teflon tape
for sealing the threads on the new one you put in.

Ordinarily, the valve should have an open pipe that comes out of the bottom
of the valve and that goes down to about 6" to 12" above the floor. That's
so no one gets scalded with hot water if the pressure relief valve opens up
due to high pressure -- the water gets directed to the floor (or to a pan or
open drain) instead. There needs to be an air gap at the end of this open
pipe -- meaning it cannot be connected directly to a drain line, etc. -- so
there cannot be any back-flow of water from the drain into the tank.

The hardware store will have the fitting and pipe that goes from the relief
valve to close to the floor or drain. They're cheap and you can use PVC so
you don't have to solder anything.

"mcsteve" wrote in message
...
Hello all...

I have an on-demand gas fired water heater. It is an Aquastar, model
# AQ 125-B. Recently, it has been leaking through what I believe to be a
drain
valve. When I run the hot water, the valve spews and won't shut off. I
have to
shut down the supply line and after I wait a bit it will cease leaking.
I want to know the purpose of this valve, and why it's 'acting up' in
this
manner.

Photo of valve: http://i37.tinypic.com/s41hrm.jpg

Photo of heater: http://i34.tinypic.com/30t1a43.jpg

The valve is mounted about 12" below the heater. Unit
is a wall mount. Valve is at the end of a horizontal cross
member that's 'teed' off the vertical pipe that I assume is
the outlet from the heater.

Hoping I can fix this myself. I've done my share of soldering
pipe in the past. This fitting appears to be glued, rather than soldered.
It is threaded.
I don't want to call a plumber.


TIA
--
Steve M

Here are two YouTube videos on the subject:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Sm5dHAqTcI



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVxPt6rwHn8





"mcsteve" wrote in message
...
Hello all...

I have an on-demand gas fired water heater. It is an Aquastar, model
# AQ 125-B. Recently, it has been leaking through what I believe to be a
drain
valve. When I run the hot water, the valve spews and won't shut off. I
have to
shut down the supply line and after I wait a bit it will cease leaking.
I want to know the purpose of this valve, and why it's 'acting up' in
this
manner.

Photo of valve: http://i37.tinypic.com/s41hrm.jpg

Photo of heater: http://i34.tinypic.com/30t1a43.jpg

The valve is mounted about 12" below the heater. Unit
is a wall mount. Valve is at the end of a horizontal cross
member that's 'teed' off the vertical pipe that I assume is
the outlet from the heater.

Hoping I can fix this myself. I've done my share of soldering
pipe in the past. This fitting appears to be glued, rather than soldered.
It is threaded.
I don't want to call a plumber.


TIA
--
Steve M