Came up to my place in Evergreen today. I always shut the water off at the road and flip the breaker on the water heater when I leave for a bit. Turned the water on at the road when I arrived and flipped the breaker. Started unloading a few things and a little bit later went to set something near the water heater and noticed a bunch of water on the floor. There was still a few drops coming out of the overflow pipe and it was dripping down the side of the water heater, so I know that is where the water came from. It seems fine now and I'm getting hot water.

What would cause this in my scenario? Plumber is supposed to be here either tomorrow or Monday for another issue so will ask him about it as well.

Dirt in the pop off valve

I would plumb it outside

may have drained down and when filling the air and steam was released through PLV.
I wouldnt turn on breaker till i could hit PLV and water came out. Might not help your problem but might prevent elements burning out due to low water level.

I was thinking along those lines goodman, but I'm no expert. It was probably 10-15 mins after I turned the water on that I flipped the breaker. I wish I knew did the water come out when the water cut back on and before the breaker was flipped or after the breaker was flipped.

The water heater is out in the shop portion of the place, so no big deal on the water, it just went onto the concrete, but I do wish the dang plumber would have still just run the drain line oh 10' to the outside wall and come out there!!

Couple of things.

Valve going bad, Thermostats sticking…. Or in my case… I’m dealing with this now. The city replaced my water meter and installed a backflow preventer. Now the thermal expansion from the water heater randomly causes it to pop off

AIR, bleed the PLV before you turn breaker on. IMO.

Water hammer from turning the water on too fast most likely. Should do it a little at a time over a few minutes. They normally don't release unless the water temperature is in excess of 210 degrees or 180 psi. It varies a little bit.

Need a new pressure regulator

Easy fix.

Brand new unit in a new build. Just for additional info. So don’t think it’s the valve especially since it’s fine at the moment. There is no pressure tank just valve and pipe or whatever you call that setup. I asked questions on this to plumber during install but don’t think that’s the issue…though probably wouldn’t have caused water on floor. So anyways what is the easy fix?

Duh

If you don’t have an expansion tank above the water heater, has the city recently replaced your water and installed a backlflow preventer at the time?

If so, the thermal expansion is causing the water to pop out of the pt valve at times. Only fix is the add an expansion tank or remove the backflow preventer.. there again, if you have one.

Edit to add : I had no clue that I’ve already commented on this thread. Disregard my post if it doesn’t apply. It’s been a long week 😁

^^^^ Certainly something to look at. I had to replace mine several years ago due to it going bad and had 150 lbs of water pressure throughout the house. All the toilets were hissing due to the high pressure and hot water was dripping out of the water heater pop off relief valve and all over the garage floor. High pressure is not good on all the seals either. Good luck and hope you find the issue.

Don't know anything about a backflow preventer and as far as I know, there isn't a pressure regulator anywhere or maybe there is and I just don't realize it.

Your plumber can connect a pressure gauge to your water spigot and check the pressure in your system easily. Probably don't have a backflow preventer except on your sprinkler system.
If you only have a 10ft run to drain your overflow outside I would go ahead and install yourself. Should be a quick fix.
You can cut off the breaker and H2O and wait awhile then cut the water back on and check your valve. If no leaks then cut the breaker on and watch again. Maybe this will help narrow it down.

Our city is going around and installing backflow preventers in between the home and the main meter, without ever giving anyone knowledge of doing so.. at least in my neighborhood they did.

Water cooled off and created a vacumn that sucked the valve open and it didn't close until it got pressure.

You can buy a gauge and check it yourself. Get a gauge and attach it to a regulated hose bibb. Usually, but not always, the back of the home is regulated. Unregulated pressure can be high (greater than 80psi). Regulated pressure should be somewhere between 40-80. That's normal operating pressure. The gauge I use has a black and red needle. Hook it up to a regulated (40-80psi) bibb. Turn it on. Set the red needle against the black needle. Leave it for a few days and come back. If the regulator has failed, a surge will bump the red needle up and the black will go back to the original setting. If the pressure at the regulated bibb (also can use the washing machine hookup for the most reliable reading) is higher than 80, the pressure regulator is bad to start with. No need to leave it for days.

An expansion talk will help and if it's new construction it should have had one installed to begin with. Code or not, that's been the standard for a decade or more.

I'm thinking it's just a water hammer issue. The pressure regulator might not pick it up.

If a water heater is installed properly by todays standards, it should have a properly routed and sized TPR valve, as well as an expansion tank. If inside the home, it should also have a pan under it, routed to the exterior. The TPR should terminate into the pan in this case, where any leak is routed to the exterior and won't damage the home.