Water Heaters - pressure relief valve hissing-kind of freaked out
Doityourself.com community forum was created to provide answers to all questions related to home improvement and home repair. Doityourself community can help you find information about how-to topics on small fixes to large remodeling projects. With comprehensive how-to content and expertly moderated community forums DoItYourself.com makes it easy to tackle even the most complex home improvement projects.View Full Version : pressure relief valve hissing-kind of freaked out
chacher1075
04-17-06, 10:41 PM
i have a kenmore power miser 8 and who knows how old it is but since i moved in to my house 3 years ago its worked fine.
so i heared this noise coming fro the laundry room and it turns out to be a hissing noise coming from what is labeled rlief valve. nothing is leaking water its just making noise.
i don't know anything about water heaters but when a hissing noise is coming from a thing labeled relief valve it kind of worries me.
so is my house going to blow up or what? if to much pressure occurs does this valve work by itself or do i have to pull it up?
i have turned the heat down but that seems not to matter.
so i heared this noise coming fro the laundry room and it turns out to be a hissing noise coming from what is labeled rlief valve. nothing is leaking water its just making noise.
i don't know anything about water heaters but when a hissing noise is coming from a thing labeled relief valve it kind of worries me.
so is my house going to blow up or what? if to much pressure occurs does this valve work by itself or do i have to pull it up?
i have turned the heat down but that seems not to matter.
majakdragon
04-18-06, 04:44 AM
chacher1075, Welcome to the DIY Forums.
It is letting off pressure. It may be a bad relief valve or you may have high pressure in the water heater. I would suggest replacing the valve as a starting point. You will have to shut off the power supply to the unit (gas or electric) and if the valve is located on the side of the tank, you will have to drain the tank down to below the valve level. New valves are about $10. Good luck.
It is letting off pressure. It may be a bad relief valve or you may have high pressure in the water heater. I would suggest replacing the valve as a starting point. You will have to shut off the power supply to the unit (gas or electric) and if the valve is located on the side of the tank, you will have to drain the tank down to below the valve level. New valves are about $10. Good luck.
chacher1075
04-18-06, 04:15 PM
so my house is not going to blow up in the time i get around to doing this.
majakdragon
04-18-06, 04:29 PM
If it is high pressure in the heater, the valve is just doing what it is designed to do, let the pressure escape. If it is just a bad valve, it won't be a problem unless it starts releasing water. Then it might get messy. Blowing up is not a problem you face. You may want to try lifting the handle and pushing it back down. There may be some debris caught in the seal and doing this will release it. Hold a rag over the opening to avoid getting hot water on you.
chacher1075
04-19-06, 10:22 AM
the crazy thing is we had our water shut off for half a day and when we turned it back on it started hissing that night.
majakdragon
04-19-06, 10:55 AM
If you replaced the T/P valve and it is still doing this, I would start looking at the temperature settings on the control for the unit. There may be a control problem that is not shutting off the burner/element(s) after the water reaches the set temperature. This could cause high pressure.