Thread: Relief Valve Leaking on hot water heater

Model Number: 153.336572

Brand: Sears Kenmore

Age: 1-5 years

Sears Kenmore Power Miser 6 (Model#153.336572) hot water heater
Professionally installed in October 2008.

Starting about 1 month ago, the relief valve has been leaking. I have placed a small bucket underneath the drain pipe opening. I've confirmed that it is leaking from the inside of the pipe because the bucket fills up with no water seen anywhere else. The threads of the valve & the outside of the drain pipe are not wet at all.

The rate of the leak is a drop every few minutes, and fills up the small bucket (~4oz.) every 4-5 days. I have just been emptying the bucket out, but would like to fix this correctly.

Sears informs me that it's a $75 diagnostic fee just to have somebody show up, but free parts since it's still under warranty until 10/2014.

The water pressure in our house is very good, however, I've never measured it to put a number on it. I've heard that the relief valve leak can happen if you have high water pressure in your area. Is this correct? So even if I replace the valve, then the new one would leak too? No leaks for 3 1/2 years, but it just started up now? Do the relief valves degrade quickly in a high water pressure area? I'm fairly handy and if I need to replace the valve, that's OK, but I just want to know if this may happen right away with a new valve because of the high water pressure.

Any ideas to try?

You guys were great & helped my fix my washer last December, hopefully you guys have some insight to this.

Thanks!

Mike