Pilot lighting We just fixed some copper piping leaks around our water heater. We drained it, turned off the gas source, fixed the leaks, filled the tank back up and now need to know exactly how to light the pilot safely. I don't see where to put the match and would prefer not to blow up in the process. We have a gas Rheem Model number 21VR75

If the release valve referred to is the pressure release valve, then a water leak out the attached vent pipe is an indication that the valve is failing. To change the valve, the water must be allowed to cool (turn off AC power or gas) and the water level inside the tank must be lowered (drained) to below the level of the pressure relief valve. Once this is accomplished the vent pipe is unscrewed from the relief valve and the pressure relief valve is unscrewed from the water tank. A new pressure relief valve with a sealant on the threads, is then screwed and tightened into place with the outlet port facing downward. The vent pipe is attached to the new valve and the tank refilled with water. A hot water facet must be opened to allow air to exit while filling. Upon becoming full (water will begin to flow from facet), turn off the facet and restore AC power or gas, therefore allowing the water heater to heat up. When the first hot water is utilized there may be some air expelled from the facet.

Turn off gas to the heater close water supply drain the water out of heater.Remove pilot tube assembly remove thermocouple/or thermopile assembly disconnect gas at the union and remove from valve. Use wrench that fits the hex shaped nut that holds the aquastat and water heater in the tapping. Usually the wrench size is 3/4" or 7/8" depending on the unit.

Put pipe dope on the male thread of the valve and keep it off the aquastat bulb, and rethread into the tapping.

Replace the ilot assembly being sure it was not damaged when it was remover if it was damaged replace it. replace the thermocouple/powerpile assembly replace the gas piping from the valve being sure to use pipe dope on the fittings and tighten them enough so they do not leak. Do not use teflon tape because it could get into the gas valve and cause problems.Test the gas piping for leaking do a tight test on the meter if possible or test with testing fluid and look for bubbles or use a gas leak detector that sniffs for gas and beeps when it detects a leak

Fill the water heater up with cold water and check to be sure there are no leaks at the thread where the valve is threaded into the tapping. Open a hot water faucet and be sure the heater is full of water.

Light the pilot and turn the gas on set to the temp that is best suited to you..

just turn off the gas valve for pilot light, turn off cold water to water tank. drain system. when refilling open cold water to fill tank, wait at least a 1/2 hour to 45 minutes then relight water heater. you should be fine!

Hi,

To change a gas hot water heater thermostat you will need to first buy a new gas valve for your hot water heater. The gas vaive and the thermostat are integrated into one unit.

To replace the thermostat on a gas hot water heater you must follow these procedures....

1. Turn off the incoming water and drain the water heater.

2. remove the pilot tube, the burner gas tube and the thermocouple from the gas valve. Turn off the gas line and remove from the gas valve.

3. get a pump pliers or a wrench in behind the gas valve and turn the whole assembly CCW to remove it from the tank.

4. After appliying pipe dope or tape to the new gas valve threads, turn the new gas valve into the tank by turning in a CW direction. Be careful not to damage the small wires to the ECO. They are the little red wires on the back. If you break them the assembly is irreparably damaged.

5. reinstall the gas line, thermocouple, burner tube, and the pilot tube to the gas valve.

6. Fill tank with water. Make sure to open a hot water faucet and purge all air from the tank.

7. Check for leaks where the gas line hooks up with soapy water.

8. Relight pilot light and check operation.

9. Set the new temperature setting to a medium setting and then adjust the temperature to your likeing from there and adequate time for heating completely.

heatman101

If you have a leaking water heater there is a serious problem.
http://waterheatertimer.org/Water-heater-leaking.html
Page shows how to limp along on a leaking water heater if your water heater needs replacement.

One of three things is causing the water:
1) Loose water connection on top of tank that is dripping down inside tank >> check pipes on top of tank.

2) The vent is clogged or not working correctly causing condensation inside flue pipe.
Condensation water is dripping back down inside tank.
Problem means possible CO poisoning if gas is not venting.
Look at vent pipe to see if joints are corroded.
Use long fireplace match > light match and put into draft hood at top of tank and see if smoke goes up.
Put hand at draft hood opening when water heater turns on to see if vent gas enters home.
Do same test when furnace turns on to see if furnace vent is pushing back into water heater.
Does water heater vent inside same pipe as furnace? You may need to set up separate vent for water heater if furnace gasses are pushing back into home.
Check furnace vent for obstructions.
Look at vent stack top of home to see if hood is in place.
Check if bird nest is built inside warm vent pipe.
Improper flue is top priority for getting fixed so vent gasses properly escape home.
You may have to call a plumber.
Professional plumbing forum:
http://www.thetankatwaterheaterrescue.com/forums/forum3/

3) Your water heater is rusted out.
A rusted tank has to be replaced.
It cannot be repaired.
However, before replacing tank, you do not want a tank failure where tank ruptures and water runs inside home until water is shut off.
This will cause major damage.
Protect yourself first.
Turn off water valve above tank.
Move gas knob to 'pilot' so burner is not heating water.
Open tub spout on hot side to relieve pressure on tank so it will not rupture.

Now you're protected.
Link above shows how to limp along on failed tank until you can replace heater.

You need a new gas water heater from Lowes or Home Depot
Look at label on side of you tank for gallons and btu's of your water heater.
Measure height to flue pipe so you get same height water heater, so pipes don't have to be changed.
You need a pipe wrench and teflon tape which will be wrapped on each pipe thread when pipes are reassembled.

Step1) Drain water heater using valve at bottom of tank.
http://waterheatertimer.org/Water-heater-will-not-drain.html

2) Turn off gas valve going into heater.
When gas valve is perpendicular to gas line, then gas is off.
Dissemble gas line to water heater.

3) Disconnect flue pipe and support flue pipe with wire so it doesn't not fall down. Flue pipe joints should be held together at each joint with 3 screws.

4) Turn off water. Shut off valve is on COLD side.
Disconnect water pipes.

5) Move old water heater out of way.

6) Set new water heater in place. Put water heater in drip pan.

7) Connect water pipes >> cold goes to side marked cold.
Hot to hot.
Buy new flexible water connector pipes at home center for easy installation of water pipes.

8) Connect gas line exactly as it was connected before.
Home center sells flexible gas line connector for easy installation of gas line.
To test for gas leak after installation, mix liquid soap with water and put around gas line joints to see if there are bubbles.
Natural gas has less pressure than water lines, so gas pipes are easy to seal with ordinary wrench.

9) install TP pipe that runs to floor. Use old one off old heater.

10) Fill tank completely with water until water is coming out of tub spout.

11) Turn on gas, and light pilot as shown in manual.
New gas heater sometimes have small water leak when first fired up, so ignore a bit of water.

12) Save water heater manual like it is gold, and read everything in manual.

The thermostat probe on most residential water heaters is part of the gas valve. The thermostat is a non replaceable part of the gas vale and if your t-stat is bad you will need to replace the gas valve also.
This is generally not a very hard job just start off by shutting gas supply valve to off position.Disconnect main gas line to burner,line to pilot light, and thermocouple from gas valve. Remove pipe fitting from gas valve and use large pipe wrench to loosen gas valve.
Before you loosen gas valve you will need to shut water supply off and drain water from tank.MOST WATER HEATER GAS VALVES ARE PRETTY STANDARD ITEMS AVAILABLE AT MOST HARDWARE STORES. Just make sure you purchase valve for the type of fuel you have,such as l.p. or natural gas.Remove gas valve by turning counterclockwise. Use teflon tape or pipe joint compound on all threaded connections for reassembly. Hook up gas line,burner supply line,pilot and thermocouple lines. Refill tank and check and check for leaks. Light pilot and turn gas control to on. Set to desired heat setting . Also check all gas fitting for leaks. Good luck. Thanks

You can try to crack it open and get a little piece of crud out of there, I'm sure that is all it is, Just get a tray or something to catch the water, It should stop it, If it gets worse, turn the water off to the heater, then open the valve and hope the bigger piece of crud comes out. It is about all you can do, other than drain the whole thing and take the valve apart and replace the rubber in it. Check it out, Hope this helps.

1) Your water heater needs to be replaced.
It cannot be repaired.
Tanks rust out after anode rod is depleted unless anode is inspected and replaced 1-3 years.
Water softener causes anode to deplete quicker, so inspect every 2 years.
Also stray household current can cause tank to rust out. Put bare copper ground wire between hot and cold pipes on new heater.

2) First thing is protect yourself from tank rupture where water heater bursts open and water runs until it's shut off. Ruptured tanks are big topic in homeowner insurance industry today because they cause major damage inside house.

- Turn off heat source so tank is not under pressure:
Gas: Rotate dial to pilot so pilot light stays lit, but burner does not turn on
Electric: turn off circuit breaker

- Turn off water going into tank using shut off above tank.
- Open hot side to bathtub to relieve pressure from tank.
- Check label on side of tank to get tank specifications for replacement.

3) What to do until replacement.
You can get by for a while on leaking tank by turning it ON only when needed.
Make sure tank is full of water before turning heat source back on.
This will buy time until replacement.
Electric tank heats 21 gallons water per hour.
Gas water heater 41 gallons per hour
Shower uses 6-9 gallons hot water, bath uses 12-15 gallon hot water.

4) Additional reading so next tank lasts longer
http://waterheatertimer.org/Replace-anode-rod.html

http://waterheatertimer.org/9-ways-to-save-with-water-heater.html

http://waterheatertimer.org/Water-at-bottom-of-water-heater.html

12 year old water heater is getting near the end.
Some tanks last 20 years, but that's the exception.
To find exact age of your brand water heater:
http://waterheatertimer.org/pdf/WaterHeaterSerialNumberDecoder.pdf

Leaking TP valve:
1) Lift TP lever and gently lower back into position to see if that stops leak.
Occasionally something gets stuck in the valve.
2) Sometimes water heater temperature gets turned up because heater is not producing as much hot water as before, and higher temps cause TP to release pressure because of overheating.
Dial temperature down to 120 degrees.
http://waterheatertimer.org/How-to-adjust-water-heater-temperature.html

3) If steps above don't fix problem, replace TP valve >> TP valves have 125 or 150 degrees rating >>> older tank shouldn't be running above 125 because higher temps cause more pressure on tank, so thermostat should be lower than 125 degrees TP rating.
Buy replacement TP at any hardware store + a roll of teflon tape to seal pipe threads.
Turn gas control to pilot ... this will keep pilot lit but burner will not fire.
Let water cool, and then drain some water out of tank.
If TP valve is on side of tank, then open drain on side of tank and drain water until it is lower than valve level. Open bathtub spigot to let air into line.
http://waterheatertimer.org/Water-heater-will-not-drain.html
Be careful around water that is higher than 120 degrees F >> you can get burned quickly >> apply cold water to any burn.
Use pipe wrench and unscrew TP valve counterclock-wise.
Install new TP and put teflon tape on threads.
Re-fill tank completely and open tub valve on hot side until water is running >> then turn gas control back to original position.
Do not fire up any water heater before tank is completely full of water or this could damage tank.

To read more preventative information about water heater leaks and age problems:
http://waterheatertimer.org/Water-at-bottom-of-water-heater.html