Weeping water heater

[Steve Ryan]

We were able to get away for a quick camping trip over the Veterans' Day weekend. The water heater began "weeping" from the pressure relief valve, this had never happened before. The manual from Suburban has a procedure on how to create a air pocket in the top of the w/h tank. After a few times of trying and flooding the campsite,I put the w/h on electric. Everything was fine the rest of the weekend.
Last weekend,at home, I tried to figure out my problem, with the same results, p/r valve starts leaking,the water isn't even that hot yet when it starts to leak.Only when the w/h is on gas.
Has anyone had this same problem with their w/h? I'm starting to wonder if the p/r valve has gone bad. This f/w was only used a couple times before we bought it last summer.
Thanks for any help.

[Mr Zip]

I had a problem with my pressure relief leaking I flushed it and it would stop for a few minutes then right back at it, a service guy at our dealer tried to convince me that it was suppose to leak when it was heating to which the sales manager just schrugged his shoulders so my next question was how about when the guy takes delivery on that $210000.00 motor home you have ready for him to pick up are you going to tell him when he comes in with water runing down the side of it, don't worry about it thats normal? They replaced my pressure relief and I havn't had any more problem. I was always taught that that valve was a safety device and it should only leak if there is too much pressure on the system. You';; proably get a lot of different ideas, but this ones a start.

[Native Tex]

Steve Ryan - I have a lot of experience with hope repairs, and I would base your leaking on what I see there. That is, if you valve is weeping, then it needs to be replaced. If the dealer will not fix, then get you yourself and save a soon to be problem. This is not a hard job to repair.

[sreigle]

Can these valves be cleaned? Or is it just too cheap to replace to bother with cleaning?

[Mr Zip]

Sometimes a piece of dirt will get under the seat and by actuating the valve it will clear and be okay but when the spring is too weak to keep the valve seated properly it will leak. They are only a $10-12 item and easy to replace.

[Steve Ryan]

Well, I picked up a new pressure valve on the way home from work yesterday and changed it out this morning(after I got the turkey cookin'). Fired up the water heater and stood back,checked it out about 30 minutes later and no more leaking. The old valve had a lot of mineral deposits on it.I've got it soaking in some Lime Away maybe it will loosen up and I'll keep for the next time. Our 14 year old f/w never had this problem. Talking to other campers it sounds like a common problem.
Thanks for all your help, we hope all of you have a great Thanksgiving.