Hot Water Draining out of outside drain

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DLR

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So we have 3 drains on the side of the house. One started draining hot water. About the amount a faucet on 1/4 would drain. No water on the sides of the heater. No water in the drain pan inside on the bottom of the heater. So I turned off the breaker to the hot water heater and turned off the shutoff valve for water going into the water heater. Now, 12 hours later it is still draining cold water. I have no crawlspace (slab) and there are no other shutoff valves I am aware of. Any ideas what I am looking at? Anything I can answer further? Pics below.

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I think your water heater relief valve is leaking

trace that pipe up to your heater, I see 3 pipes in the picture
a blue pipe
white pipe
red pipe

see if the relief valve is blue piped
the pan is most likely the white pipe
AC pan/condensate is red pipe THIS is just a guess

it could very well be syphoning the water heater,
 
I am not really sure what I am looking at, since I don't normally see drain lines piped using pex (the blue and red pipes in your picture).

Which one of the three is leaking the water?

My best guess, until I get more information, is that your T&P valve on the water heater is bad. It''s function is a temperature and pressure relief. If the water in the heater gets too hot, it will build up pressure inside the tank. When it gets too high, the T&P valve opens to release the excess pressure. Sometimes the pipe from that valve will be piped to the outside of the house.
 
DLR said:
So we have 3 drains on the side of the house. One started draining hot water. About the amount a faucet on 1/4 would drain. No water on the sides of the heater. No water in the drain pan inside on the bottom of the heater. So I turned off the breaker to the hot water heater and turned off the shutoff valve for water going into the water heater. Now, 12 hours later it is still draining cold water. I have no crawlspace (slab) and there are no other shutoff valves I am aware of. Any ideas what I am looking at? Anything I can answer further? Pics below.
Click to expand...
You should determine which potential source of water within the house is draining to which exterior pipe. I would want to know which each of those 3 pipes were coming from regardless of the apparent issue.
For example, add water to the drain pan. Colored water if necessary. If an AC drain pan, do likewise.
With the T&P relief valve on the water heater, disconnect piping within the house. It may be immediately obvious that is the culprit. If it's not releasing water then pour water down the drain line and observe which exterior pipe it goes to. (You said you shut the water but we don't know if you shut the supply(CW) or the return(HW) or both. Shutting only one would not stop water from draining out until the HW in the house piping completely drained down to the level of the P&T valve.)
A picture of the top of the water heater and the T&P relief valve would be nice.
 
Maybe, indeed. Easy to test, though, and easy to fix if so. But it shouldn't be piped directly outside without an air gap inside, so he should be able to see it leaking.
 
Supposed to discharge through a visible air gap in the same room as the water-heating appliance. (IPC 504.6 (2))
 
If it were piped to a floor drain or floor sink then the air gap would be required, since it is [seems to be] piped outside
the code says it has to be above grade by 6'' i put mine at 12'' this is usually how water heaters in the attic are piped



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It's a question of interpretation, maybe. I go right down the list, making sure I conform to (1), then (2), etc. When (5) says "Discharge to the floor, ..." I take that to mean after complying with (1) through (4). So in all cases, you must have an air gap in the same room as the water heater. If you want to ultimately get it outside, you run a drain from the catchment after the air gap. The reasoning behind this second most important rule is to ensure that a leaking TPR valve will be noticeable to anyone working on or near the water heater. As always, it depends on what your inspector wants (or allows).
 
Mikey said:
It's a question of interpretation, maybe. I go right down the list, making sure I conform to (1), then (2), etc. When (5) says "Discharge to the floor, ..." I take that to mean after complying with (1) through (4). So in all cases, you must have an air gap in the same room as the water heater. If you want to ultimately get it outside, you run a drain from the catchment after the air gap. The reasoning behind this second most important rule is to ensure that a leaking TPR valve will be noticeable to anyone working on or near the water heater. As always, it depends on what your inspector wants (or allows).
Click to expand...
Although the termination point must be readily observable, the primary reason for an air gap is for cross connection control between potable water and the potential of contamination's.
I won't comment on the questionable interpretation but rather leave that up to the Inspectors interpretation. Or better yet, I would request a clarification from the ICC(International Code Counsil).
 
Mikey said:
It's a question of interpretation, maybe. I go right down the list, making sure I conform to (1), then (2), etc. When (5) says "Discharge to the floor, ..." I take that to mean after complying with (1) through (4). So in all cases, you must have an air gap in the same room as the water heater. If you want to ultimately get it outside, you run a drain from the catchment after the air gap. The reasoning behind this second most important rule is to ensure that a leaking TPR valve will be noticeable to anyone working on or near the water heater. As always, it depends on what your inspector wants (or allows).
Click to expand...

This is not a list telling you that every thing on it has to be followed, it is a list giving you guide lines to follow for different applicartions.

#5 says. discharge to the floor, to the pan serving the water heater or storage tank, to a waste receptor or to the outdoors
if you will notice there is a ''comma' after the words 'floor' and 'tank'

Comma definition, the sign (,), a mark of punctuation used for indicating a division in a sentence, as in setting off a word, phrase, or clause, especially when such a division is accompanied by a slight pause or is to be noted in order to give order to the sequential elements of the sentence. It is also used to separate items in a list, to mark off thousands in numerals, to separate types or levels of information in bibliographic and other data, and, in Europe, as a decimal point.

what this means, is the sentence is giving you options
discharge to the floor,
to the pan serving the water heater or storage tank
to a waste receptor
to the outdoors

air gap,
airgap.png
if you will notice, an airgap is installed at the end of the indirect drain at the floor drain
it is not installed somewhere in the piping,
hope this helps
 
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