Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Aldeer General Forum Water Leak In A Slab House

Iv seen a few leaks - drips that a leak indicator won't pick up on the meter. It's rare but it does happen.

A residential water heater does not have an "air control valve" unless it has been added.. And then, I'm not sure why they would because I've never seen it. If you have a bad thermostat or an element that has shorted out, over heating won't be a problem.. Actually, it'll he right the opposite since it has "shorted out" it won't be heating at all. A thermostat that is over juicing an element, it will pop the element if it doesn't trip the internal breaker on the thermostat first.. In 99.9% of cases

Reno Bud, I'm not sure why you want to be so argumentative about something that you obviously don't know as much about as you think you do. And by the way, I never said a water heater had an air control valve, although it does have a pressure relief valve.

Initially, when he first asked the question he didn't give us all the details and I suggested before I knew that he was on city water that if he had a well the WATER TANK air control valve might be bad. It can cause a similar condition, but it will be on both hot and cold. This is obviously not the problem.

And yes, a bad element can cause the water to overheat. There are a couple of conditions with a bad element. It can be open, and in this condition, it will not heat at all. It can be grounded or "shorted to ground" as some might say, in this condition with some water heaters it will heat all the time. I'm sure you understand electricity too so I won't go into a detailed explanation as to how this works.

And again, a bad thermostat, one that fails to cut off and stays engaged will cause the water to heat all the time as well. It seems that you are under the impression that the element will not heat up over 140, but this is not true. It will continue to heat higher than 140 if it is grounded out until it eventually burns in two and goes open. The same thing applies to a thermostat that fails to shut off, the element will continue to heat unless the element goes open, the thermostat eventually cuts off, or a breaker trips (which in many cases doesn't happen).

And both of these types of conditions can happen without tripping the breaker. As a matter of fact, a grounded element can be a very dangerous condition, especially if it happens in an older mobile home that had all metal siding.

You may never have heard of an overheating HW heater but it does happen and it causes the exact same type of problem that he is describing in this thread other than the low pressure in the one faucet which is most likely stopped up.

This is my last post on the matter, if the OP would like any of my assistance troubleshooting this issue he is welcome to PM me.

I'm not trying to argue.. I'm trying to explain. Your arguing several points that I've already made

Of course a heater will over heat.. the redundant safety systems are designed to shut it down if it does before catastrophic failure. Even a heater 10-15 years old has these features.

What were missing are symptoms of a heater that's over heating.. Like a temp/pressure relief valve that is tripping. Higher pressure throughout the whole house (I'm sure you understand how adding heat to a closed, pressurized system affects things, so ill skip that lesson)Also, there is no mention of extremely hot water either. As long has this has been going on, a heater stuck wide open would have melted something by now

What we have is a faucet, that has been replaced and both have "air" on the hot side and reduced pressure.. There was mention of the same symptoms in another room but couldn't confirm... Your welcome to read back through my post. I've made several suggestions as to a cause

I misread your post about the air relief valve.. I apologize.

There are several easy ways to diagnose these issues but I'm shooting from the hip working off the info provided.. The same as you. You could be right.. I could be right.. Or we could have both failed miserably


BROTHERTURTLE... I apologize for the highjack, I hope you get the issue resolved

I'm not sure why I left this out earlier, but I know for certain that the pressure pop off valve hasn't been venting any pressure. Not sure why, but whoever plumbed this house did not run a drain line to the water heater for the pop off valve. They also didn't put a pan under the heater either. But in the 3 years I have owned it, I have never had water in the floor or heard it pop. It's in a closet in our master bath, so I wouldn't miss it.

No apologies needed. I've just been sitting back with my popcorn watching and trying to learn something . Lol.

i know it happens i guess but i have never known of a pressure relief valve popping open . most times for them to get that hot the breaker in the thermostat trips . . i have had to change them because they started leaking .

Your right.. The heater should shut itself down. The relief valve acts as a backup to that.

Relief valves do start leaking at random but most of the time, its an indicator of a bad pressure regulator and/or expansion tank. We usually change both because expansion tanks are bad to start leaking .. Mostly where the male threads are welded to the tank

Any update? I'm curious what the issue was

Chitter was full!

So I finally got to work on this yesterday and I replaced the supply valve and hose for the hot side of the kitchen sink. The first pic is what I saw inside the valve. The second pic is what I pulled out of the valve. The third pic is the strainer off the new faucet i just installed a week ago. Obviously this is not going to be the end of this unless I replumb the whole hot water system.

As for the water heater, I tried to drain it, but nothing came out. I tapped on the tank and valve and it started very slowly coming out along with a handful of sediment. I checked the temp on both thermostats and both were set to 140. Both elements had 12 ohms, and neither was short to ground. So I dropped the temp down to 130 and turned it back on. I still get the puff of air when I turn on the hot water, but at least my pressure is back to normal in the kitchen. So I will live with it as is for now.

My last house in Texas, I had to install a whole house water filter. I had so much junk in the water, I had to clean the washer and faucet screens once a month.

hook up a hose to the water heater drain and open the valve with the water pressure still on itll blow that crap out let in flush for a few minutes then turn the pressure off and let it empty. that watef heater doesnt have a label somewhere on it that says "self cleaning" or anything does it? ive ran into a few of those and they are a pain in the ass they constantly agitate the tank water the way the inlet pipe is designed and are supposed to keep it clean but it just winds up knocking chunks like you got loose to go clog up a valve somewhere else.

Sounds like you need a new water heater.