Don’t Bogart that drain my friend…..

     I have been accused of being “clever” myself on occasion, so I tend to recognize it when I see it.  When it comes to home repairs being clever can be a good thing---but without enough information it can be dangerous.

     Take TPRV drains for example.

     There is a TPRV (Temperature, Pressure Relief Valve) on every water heater.  It should have a drain on it that runs to an appropriate location without running up hill.  While these valves may harmlessly leak a little water now and then, they are designed as a safety relief valve where tremendous amounts of very hot water may need to be drained away in a hurry.

     The installation of the drain termination pictured below (copper pipe entering from the top, right) will likely be satisfactory for minor leaking of the TPRV, but it will not be satisfactory in an explosive relief of pressure.  Very hot water would likely be sprayed everywhere in the room before it found its way into the drain with a washing machine hose stuck in it.

     The odd thing about this installation is that it would have been way easier to have routed the drain to a more appropriate location.

Charles Buell

 

 

Click on the Rose to check out:  AHA!---A Forum of Landmark Proportions---your Group

PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)all pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.

 

DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.