For your TPR pages, my local AJH having dealt with too many botched basement TPR's under the California Plumbing Code, has adopted this - Bryce Nesbitt, [relief valve that drains upwards and uses a "pigtail", presumably a temperature sensor shutoff control, at its base - Ed.]. These include hydronic heating boilers (hot water boilers), steam boilers, and all types of water heaters, both those that use a water storage tank or cylinder and those that heat water on demand such as tankless water heaters. Water heater rocket myth: Mythbusters water heater explosion video produced in 2007, web search Sept 25 2010, original source: "T&P and ASME Safety Relief Valves", (2011), retreived 10 Dec 2012, original source: http://media.wattswater.com/PG-TP-ASME.pdf, To "stop" an annoying boiler drip at the pressure temperature relief valve, the mechanic installed a short length of pipe capped by a drain valve which he could simply shut. (b) The user shall maintain all pressure relieving devices in good operating condition. I looked through the code book (IRC) and can't find any where that states it must be mechanically attached. Should I have the plumber attach it or let it ride? Be constructed of those materials indicated in Section P2906.5 or materials tested, rated and approved for such use in accordance with ASME A112.4.1. accordance with subs. Discharge to the floor, to the pan serving the water heater or storage tank, to a waste receptor or to the outdoors. The Temperature & Pressure Relief Valve or TPR Valve on any heated appliance that contains water, such as a heating boiler, hot water tank, water heater, water cylinder, must have a drain line or discharge tube properly installed, routed, and made of proper materials. That may be considerably more. If for example someone installed a flexible line to replace a straight downtube running down the side of a water heater from the TP valve, I'd be worried that some fool would come along and bend the tubing "up" - as nothing prevents them from doing so. Incidentally, that water heater insulation is not required and in some installations can be itself unsafe, e.g. This might have been installed on a system for other reasons, such as connecting a hose to permit easy draining of pressure off of the boiler through the TP valve. It's way better than the method of putting a manual drain valve there, which of course will be left in the wrong position. 10. It would be helpful to see the actual California plumbing code text on this detail and also useful to know what long-term testing and field experience have shown about the safety and reliability of this approach. In that application most code officials accept PVC. Such scale might easily clog the small-diameter copper pigtail "drain" tubing itself, leading to a relief valve malfunction. Even if a plumber charged a minimum of an hour's labor to unscrew the old valve and screw in the new one and its discharge tube that ought not amount to a substantial total (where I read "substantial" as hundreds of dollars) unless there was something rather unusual and costly going on in your home. The photos above illustrates this unsafe installation practice: a 1/2" copper tube has been installed through a reducing fitting into the mouth or piping of a 3/4" diameter TPR valve. steam, and the temperature control valve fails to function, the over pressure may cause the There are other things I might mention. Finally: I'd like to see a photo of that TPR valve and another of its data tag. The indirect or local waste piping serving a water heater The other solution to this same problem would be TPR's rated for two way immersion. Not be smaller than the diameter of the outlet of the valve served and shall discharge full size to the air gap. by R J cross connection control device or assembly, or a furnace or air Eleni fireplace Safest would be to turn the heater OFF entirely until the plumbing is done correctly. Our Ultra 310 boiler was professionally installed with a plastic PT valve a white plastic discharge tube. Note: appearance of your Comment below may be delayed: if your comment contains an image, web link, or text that looks to the software as if it might be a web link, your posting will appear after it has been approved by a moderator. You'd probably find these same instructions in the installation manual for the water heater.The COST for this repair should be no more than a simple plumbing service call and perhaps a few piping connections. replacement of the valve should solve the problem. Is there any requirement that the fitting and pipe extension is required to be made from copper? 4778* All about Deliming Coil-Type/Tube-Type Commercial Water Heaters and Hydronic Boilers *Normally supplied when ordering Part No. On 2019-11-11 by (mod) - is it ok for the TP valve to drip or leak? Maybe the water heater needs to be replaced: if it's leaking or badly-corroded, for example. The risk includes destructive, even fatal BLEVE EXPLOSIONS.Please read RELIEF VALVE LEAKS for details and let me know if any questions remain. Should I be concerned? Hi I would appreciate if you could advise where I should direct the relief valve pipe to.The 45 litre electric hot water unit is installed under the kitchen bench inside the cupboard in a unit. to adversely affect floats by means of a fixed air gap installed in Where a hot-water storage tank or an indirect water heater is located at an elevation above the fixture outlets in the hot-water system, a vacuum relief valve that is in accordance with CSA Z21.22 shall be installed on the storage tank or heater. And depending on the kind of water heater and its fuel you will need to meet clearances from combustibles (that includes your wall). Your earlier photos were incomplete in that detail . Be one nominal size larger than the size of the relief-valve outlet, where the relief-valve discharge piping is constructed of PEX or PE-RT tubing. Temperature and pressure relief valves shall be installed so that the sensing element of the valve extends into the heater tank and monitors the temperature in the top 6 inches of the heater or tank. The company points out that ANY backpressure on a conventional pressure relief valve of the type commonly used on residential water heaters (disc and spring type design) will see a reduction of its opening response if there is any backpressure on the valve, such as from debris, or even from standing water in a discharge tube piped upwards (though I suspect the pressure difference in most buildings would be small). 5. (2) Upon written request by the employer, the Division may permit three-way two-port valves to be installed under two safety valves, each with the required relieving capacity, provided they are so installed that both safety valves cannot be closed off from the boiler at the same time and provided the three-way valve will permit at least full flow to the safety valve in service at all time. Continue readingat RELIEF VALVE LEAKS or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX. (2) The discharge of steam or water will not be detrimental to any electrical or other machinery or equipment. We have no relationship with advertisers, products, or services discussed at this website. I appreciate the significant convenience of being able to route a TPR valve discharge line up and thence horizontally and then "down" to a more-convenient discharge location, and now that we've got your added detail I understand the theory of a copper pigtail drain on the down-end of a Tee into which the water heater or boiler TPR valve is discharging. SAFETY VALVES AND PRESSURE RELIEVING DEVICES, BOILERS, WATER HEATER INSTALLATION INFORMATION, Bulletin 293, 3 THINGS TO AVOID WHEN INSTALLING & OPERATING SAFETY VALVES, THE SAFETY RELIEF VALVE HANDBOOK: DESIGN AND USE OF PROCESS SAFETY VALVES TO ASME AND INTERNATIONAL CODES AND STANDARDS, Building Owner Water Heater Safety Notice, HOME INSPECTION EDUCATION COURSES (Canada), HOME INSPECTION EDUCATION: HOME STUDY COURSES, Other sections of this mechanical code are given, The relief valve discharge tube is down-sized, smaller than the opening of the relief valve itself, reducing the valve's ability to release heat, pressure, energy, should the heater over-heat. When a relief valve continues to leak it may become damaged and then fail to operate when an unsafe pressure or temperature occurs. All pressurized storage-type water heaters and unfired hot water storage tanks shall be equipped with one or more combination temperature and pressure relief valves. Normally a hydronic heating boiler doesn't run over 30 psi, Fillip, the valve should not be leaking, but before replacing it you need to know why it's leaky, as the problem may not be the valve. (a) Each power boiler, nuclear boiler, and high temperature water boiler shall have safety valves or pressure relieving devices constructed, stamped and installed in accordance with the applicable section of the Code, except: (1) For existing installations the stamping required by the Code at the time of original installation may be accepted until the valves are replaced. This except [adapted for clarity] from the Uniform Plumbing Code is excerpted from the U.S. state of Utah's adoption of the code: The [TPR valve] discharge piping serving a pressure-relief valve, temperature-relief valve or combination valve shall: 1. The cost to cure is trivial: a few dollars in plumbing parts and, of course, the plumbers labor charge. temperature and pressure relief valve or water treatment device Watch out: Looking again at your photo it looks to me as if the TPR valve is connected to a pipe that goes "up" to some unknown destination or "down" to a valve that is closed; this is an unsafe and dangerous and incorrect installation. Even though the discharge of water into an area may not, in your opinion, cause damage to the building, the point of discharge must be visible so that someone can spot trouble (leaks) before a catastrophe occurs. 1. Zurn Engineered Water Solutions, retrieved 12/23/12, original source: http://www.zurn.com/Pages/ProductsList.aspx?NodeKey=398872, [1] "Residential Electric Water Heater Installation Instructions and Use & Care Guide", American Water Heater Co., October 2001, American Water Heater Co., Johnson City, TN, [manufacturer of residential & commercial water heaters, also manufacturer of Polaris/Commercial water heaters], Tel: 800-999-9515, web search 1/12/2012, original source: americanwaterheater.com/support/manuals/res-elect.pdf [copy on file] [Technical review requested 1/25/2011], [2] ANSI Z21.22 - 1986, provides requirements for pressure/temperature relief valves 4. temperature and pressure relief valve, water treatment device, [6] A.O. 5. & How? It is common to see plastic discharge tubes on some PT valves and that's an accepted practice provided the tubing is properly rated for the temperatures involved. if you are an inspector or plumber who wants to be credited as a technical contributor I can add your contact info there. 2. When? The result over time could be that the valve becomes clogged and would then fail to open in a true emergency - risking, ultimately a dangerous BLEVE or water heater explosion.Watch out: ALSO, I suspect from the photo that your water heater has a discharge tube that directs the valve outlet into a wall and going to who knows where. I inferred from the product design in your photo that an engineer or someone had added a temperature sensor intended to detect spillage as heat and thus to act as a different method of shutting off an unsafe hot water heating appliance. The reasoning is simple: discharging the TPR tube end in a more-remote location increases the risk that a leak goes un-attended and the system becomes unsafe. Similarly, discharging a relief valve leakage or drip to a location where the leak or drip cannot be observed is a dangerous practice because the leak can go unnoticed, causing failure to recognize an unsafe condition. In a photo above on this page you can see a flexible 3/4" copper tube used in the routing of the discharge of a TP valve from the top of a water heater. (Normally supplied in UN-LIME shipping cartons), - unsafe, improper TPR valve installation: wrong location, improper drain piping. Be constructed of those materials listed in Section 605.4 or materials tested, rated and approved for such use in accordance with ASME A112.4.1. You can pipe a tp valve down and to a floor drain provided the end of the extension remains visible. Or where can I find it in writing? The discharge drain extension is typically taken to just a few inches above the floor or in some jurisdictions it may be directed outdoors - a solution that I think is risky because IF the valve should be leaking, dripping, etc., one wants to notice that and fix it to keep the system safe.The inspector's report makes a valid point: we should never route the discharge tube "up" from the actual outlet opening of the TP valve. Great question, RJ. At its extreme, a leaky relief valve can clog, leading to a BLEVE EXPLOSION. Not have a threaded connection at the end of such piping. The discharge piping serving a temperature relief valve, pressure relief valve, or combination of both shall have no valves, obstructions, or means of isolation and be provided with the following: Equal to the size of the valve outlet and shall discharge full size to the flood level of the area receiving the discharge and pointing down. when installed in accordance with sub. If the other end of that line is not already readily visible and in a location where it would be noticed, that too would be unsafe and improper.The FIX for this unsafe condition is usually trivial: the discharge tube must be routed only "downwards" from the TP valve outlet opening, and the end of the discharge tube must be in a readily accessible, visible, and safe location. Georg Fischer Piping Systems, "CPVC Pipe", retrieved 12/23/12, GF Piping, Pennsylvania (d) Safety devices: Water heaters shall be equipped with safety devices as specified in this paragraph. Take a look at where the TPR valve is connected to your water heater; if it's on a side (near the top of course) then you need working space for the valve. No shut off valve or other restricting device may be installed between the water heater or storage tank and the combination temperature and pressure relief valve. I have a T&P that is just inserted into a PVC drain line that goes to the outdoors. Easton, PA 18040 Discharge from a relief valve into a water heater pan shall be prohibited. All of them are improper. valve tpr water relief heater pressure plugged temperature activerain Our Comment Box is provided by Countable Web Productions countable.ca, Click to Show or Hide Citations & References, COMMONLY USED RESIDENTIAL BUILDING CODES, IRC 2009, WISCONSIN PLUMBING CODE, Chapter SPS 382, DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION, INSTALLATION, SUPERVISION, MAINTENANCE AND INSPECTION OF PLUMBING, CALIFORNIA 608.3 EXPANSION TANKS, AND COMBINATION TEMPERATURE AND PRESSURE-RELIEF VALVES, CALIFORNIA 761. Werner Slken offers a nice explanation of these concerns. and automatic shutoff devices for hot water supply systems. From what I understand, if it's still functioning, an ordinary inspector will give an appliance a passing grade and therefore the official "okay". Smith in the article below). A slow drip type leak at this pressure relief valve may never provide enough heat to shut off the equipment but might clog the valve, and. 13. That passage of water leaves scale that ultimately blocks the valve. You offered no California code source or citation that clarifies the pigtail installation - if you can offer that it would be most helpful. 13 March 2015 Stan Stan the Inspector Man said: Can 3/4-inch flexible copper tubing sections (with FIP ends) be legally used in any part of a water heater's T&P discharge line? U.S. I think your photo of the water heater shows rust at its bottom; an old water heater and especially a rusty one that has suffered leaks over its life is at greater risk of bursting - a BLEVE explosion risk.