Adventures in Renovation

At first i thought I just needed a new T&P valve (the valve at the top of the tank that keeps your tank from exploding if the pressure gets too high). But then I talked to a few plumbers about it and they seemed to think that the valve should definitely outlast the water heater. My old roommate Bryan has the exact same problem and his water heater is brand new. Bryan did a bunch of internet research and found a great article about expansion tanks.

www.northogdencity.com/pdf/thermal.pdf

The problem seems to be that the water pressure coming in from the city is really high at both of our houses. We have a pressure regulator that keeps the water from exploding out of the faucet. But that pressure regulator also keeps water from back flowing into the city's line when the pressure increases inside your house. So every time our hot water heater leaked it was because pressure was reaching dangerous levels when it fired up. When Bryan bought his house, his old water heater had obviously exploded, flooded the basement and grew mold all over the built in closets. So the occasional little leak could be a seriously problem. Scary.

The good news is, the expansion tank totally fixed the problem. The expansion tank takes on water when the pressure increases over normal operating pressure (50 psi in my case). This was my first time soldering copper pipes. It was slow going, but so far no leaks. I rule!

That's how I feel when something goes right on the house. It's kinda rare when stuff works out pretty much the way I expect it to. But when it does, it's a natural high. I am the best!