Relief valve dripping

[Hatchet jack]

I turned on my water heater electric and gas yesterday to heat the water for a shower.
I was outside and saw water dripping out of the water heater. When I opened it I saw it drips coming out of the release valve. So I purged it let some pressure off. Didn’t seem to leak again. Not sure if this is normal or is the pressure relief valve going bad or was there just some dirt under the spring? Any suggestions? Thank you

[TCNashville]

Yes I would say somewhat normal. The plumbing systems in RV's is closed so when the water is heated, the pressure increases and has no where to go. Also, periodically exercising the pressure relief valve will increase it's life.

[damammel]

Yes it’s normal. In the manual it explains how to set the air gap in the tank. See page 5.

https://www.gulfstreamcoach.com/media/uploads/1/11454_Atwood-Water-Heater-4-6-10-gallon-Manual.pdf

[Hatchet jack]

I kind of figured that it was normal. Being that it’s less than a year old. But you never know. Thank you for the replies

[damammel]

You’re welcome. I set the air gap at the start of every season after rinsing out the tank.

[Jagiven]

It is kinda normal, especially if you are connected to city water at the CG, and their water pressure is on the higher side. As noted above, it is a closed system. So when the water is heated it expands. That expansion needs to go somewhere.

Normally there is a bubble of air at the top of the tank. Air is compressible and water is not. If the bubble is not large enough the water needs somewhere to go, aka out the pressure relief valve.

If it bugs you, put a little air into the top of the tank. Turn off the WH, pump/city water connection. Then open a low point drain, ether the WH's or one for your hot water plumbing. Now to get the air into the tank, my preference is to open the pressure relief valve, but be careful as it could be warm. You can open a hot water faucet too. but it is harder to tell how much air you actually got into the tank, as it has to enter through the pipes. You probably just need less than a cups worth of air. To resolve the issue.

If you are connected to City Water, do you have a pressure regulator on your FW hose? The CG water pressure maybe very high, and you maybe at risk of over pressurizing your system and causing other issues.

Have a great trip