Water Heater Pressure Release Mayhem

[John C. Washington]

What do you make of this? I recently inspected a home with two older water heaters in California. The valves appear to go into a reduced size flexible line along with some sort of spicket attachment and finally it disappears into the wall to what I believe is into the plumbing vents. Ironically they contacted a plumber who stated that while the tanks were quite old, the valves were acceptable.

[Wayne B. Wilson]

I would ask for a letter stating that from the plumber if i was the buyer

[Jeffrey R. Pope]

They are (or the plumber is) full of sh!t. There is absolutely nothing "acceptable" about any part of this set up.

[Ian A. Niquette]

I would have to agree with Mr Pope. 100% Maybe even 150.

[Wayne B. Wilson]

Now now, the plumber is a professional lol, Maybe with a drinking problem but he is a professional

[Marcel Gratton]

These are unsafe installations.

I would question the plumber as to the location of the TPR valve on the WH in the first pic and reduce size of the discharge piping not to mention the use of galvanize piping...

[Chuck Evans]

First Pic:

• Valve not installed in tank (sensor is not inside the top six inches of the tank)
• Not gravity draining
• Valves not allowed on discharge line
• Flexible connector reduces flow below nominal 3/4 inch pipe

Second Pic:

• Not gravity draining
• Flexible connector reduces flow below nominal 3/4 inch pipe

There may well be additional issues not visible in the photos such as "discharge does not terminate in a visible location"

Perhaps the valves were "acceptable", as the plumber stated, it's just that almost nothing about the way they're installed is.

[Jeffrey R. Jonas]

John,
I really hope you're just messin with us, asking about these set-ups. There is absolutely nothing right with them.
If you were just sharing your pics and find with us, thank you. It's always fun to see the 'carp' other inspectors find.
Jeff

[John C. Washington]

Certainly Jeffrey. The reality is that I definately was aware of the issues at hand, however it was very humorous that they took my recommendation of caling a plumber who did in deed state that the system safe and functional. Whats the world coming to? I did hghly recommend a second opinion though as well as printed off the TPR mini course for the client as reference.

[Jeffrey R. Pope]

Second opinion? How about a qualified first-opinion?

Don't be delicate with this type of issue - it's a safety hazard in need of correction. Anyone who says something different is not qualified to give an opinion.

[Mark Thorman]

I would have to agree with all of the above with the exception of the use of the flex tubing. It is general pratice here and is not considered a significant enough of a reduction, but then again we're still on the 91 code.

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