Monday, January 4, 2010

Drip Drip

The pressure relief valve on my water heater has leaked since the motorhome was new. I finally added an expansion tank a few years back that cured the drip drip. However lately it started dripping again. Following the instructions in the manual, I tried re-establishing the air pocket at the top of the tank by turning off the water supply, opening a faucet, opening the relief valve until the water stops flowing, closeing everything up and turning the water back on. The only thing this accomplished was making it drip worse. I opened the valve and let it flush for a while, no help. I opened the valve and let it snap shut a few times, no help. I tapped on the valve, no help. It was time for a replacement valve.
Well I went ahead and replaced the valve today. It went a lot easier than I thought. The hardest part was finding a replacement at a reasonable price. One place wanted $30, I got one for $15 which is still robbery since they are only $9 at the hardware stores. The hardware stores just didn’t have the right model. The old one came out easy and there was enough clearance around the door latch to get the old one out and the new one in. After cleaning all the white stuff (calcium/lime) from around the hole and wrapping Teflon tape around the threads the new one went in just as easy as the old one came out. No leaks and no more drip drip.

4 comments:

  1. Nothing better then D.Y.I. Can you imagine what a Dealer would charge.

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  2. Not only that but the hassle of uprooting my home to taking it in and leaving it ALL DAY for a 30 minute job.

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  3. Yeah, mine has started doing that also. Last weekend it didn't, maybe to cold. Usually if I just release the pressure once or twice it stops leaking.

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  4. Well the guy at the RV service center, where I bought the replacement valve told me, the way to keep them from leaking is to never open them.

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