Can filling up a 75 gallon water heater tank without opening a faucet cause damage?

Plumbing Forums

Help Support Plumbing Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

ps1337

New Member
Joined
Sep 30, 2016
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Location
,
Had a bit of a snafu at home today that resulted in an empty 75 gallon tank getting refilled without opening a faucet. Faucet was opened only after the tank was full, which resulted in a long burst of pressurized air coming out. I'm worried this pressurized air may have caused damage to the pipes, fittings or fixtures. Could this be the case? These are copper pipes, some 3/4'', some 1/2'', in a 4,500 sq ft home.
 
Its just the air that was in the tank being pushed out by the water.
 
The damage that it could cause would be rattling of loose pipe and/0r a potentially weak joints as the compressed air mixed with a little water is released to rapidly. Same thing can happen when turn a system back on. You must crack the valve and fill it slow. Open a fixture and release the air slowly.
The air pressure is going to be the same as the water pressure. The rate of release is the main concern.
 
The damage that it could cause would be rattling of loose pipe and/0r a potentially weak joints as the compressed air mixed with a little water is released to rapidly. Same thing can happen when turn a system back on. You must crack the valve and fill it slow. Open a fixture and release the air slowly.

The air pressure is going to be the same as the water pressure. The rate of release is the main concern.

The air pressure in such a situation will be greater than the water supply pressure wouldn't it? Air can be compressed, water cannot.
 
The air pressure in such a situation will be greater than the water supply pressure wouldn't it? Air can be compressed, water cannot.

water and air pressure will be the same. It is True water does not compress.

But air does. It will compress to same and equal amount of pressure as the water

wtr vs air pressure.jpg
 

Latest posts

Back
Top