'A rocket in your basement?' That may sound like a ridiculous notion,
however, if you have a hot water heater, or a water boiler, you do have a potential missile in your home. There is a self explanatory valve that is integral to the safe operation of your water heater: the 'RELIEF VALVE'. This valve is in place to protect the tank from over heating (210 degrees F) or over pressurizing (150 psi). It will blow off if either above maximum level is reached. It is a good idea to keep a bucket under the discharge pipe (found on the side of heater, if you do not have a discharge pipe install it soon, it will usually be 3/4 inch copper or PVC pipe, it cannot be made of iron or any corrosive material, and should NEVER be reduced in size, it should terminate at 8 inches off the floor. We will gladly install one if you so desire. If your water heater is in a finished area the discharge pipe should be piped below the finished area according to the plumbing code).
          Now back to the 'rocket': there is a recorded incident where a water heater had a "leaking" relief valve, the homeowner thought it was an easy fix, he got a 3/4 inch plug and screwed it into the 'relief' valve! NEVER do this! The valve was now rendered useless, the "leak"was the relief valve doing what is was designed to do: protect the tank from over pressurizing, can you guess what happened? That's right:
The heater became so pressurized it actually was blown out of the basement and through the roof! There was a rocket in that man's basement. The lesson this month:
Be sure you have a proper working relief valve on your boiler and water heater, never alter it in any way and if leaking occurs, call your favorite plumber right away, leave the rockets for NASA!