We have been looking for the source of a leak now for 3 years. Plumbers have come in and looked and not found it (but replaced taps etc assuring us that would fix it  ). We had a new HWS installed in 2008 because we thought the old Rheem was stuffed and leaking (it was 15 years old and we are not on town water... I'm assuming mineral build-up is an issue here)... still it leaks. I ripped the wall off the laundry today looking for the leak as it seemed to be coming from there... no leak but water was flowing out from under the bottom bearer (getting pretty rotten) from the HWS chamber in the bathroom in the next room (luckily someone seemed to have the foresight to put an observation 'window' in the wall behind the HWS so that when the wall in the laundry was removed I could look in behind the HWS which is otherwise concealed within a cabinet... noticed a moisture line leading to the HWS and started swearing). I removed the cabinet wall concealing the HWS and dried up all the water and left it for a few minutes... noticed a drip... it came from a connection in the inlet of the HWS. Closer look and I notice the connection in the inlet pipe that has a larger nut-shaped structure at one end and smaller one at the other end. There is a hole drilled through the larger nut-shaped structure. I have taken two pics (poor phone quality sorry) to show what I'm talking about:
This shows the inlet pipes and the connection I'm talking about. Arrow shows position of the small (2mm ish) hole. You can see the water that was on the ground and the mouldy wood 
Close up of the part and the leak I'm talking about before I started fiddling with it...
The leak takes only a few seconds to form after drying off and then drips fairly regularly onto the floor creating a sizeable puddle that is leaking under the wall into the laundry (from the bathroom next door) which is why I ripped the wall out looking for the source of the leak. It looks like it has been leaking for a real long time and the previous owner complained of a leak as well but never, it seems, had the inclination to get it fixed ). The wall was also now stuffed due to rising moisture in the gyprock and loads of mould growing on the back eating away the paper (we are going to replace the gyprock wall with mini-orb corrugated iron sheets that are screwed to the frame making for a tough and waterproof cladding that is easy removal and access to the plumbing in the future - this has just expedited the process ).
I turned everything off, undid this connection, 'kicked its wheels', retapped it with new plumbing tape, and put it back in again. Just in case it was a pressure related issue I opened the relief valve as well as this was also due to happen as part of my regular maintenance routine of the HWS (though undoing everything released pretty much all the pressure). The little hole didn't refill straight away. An hour later the hole filled up again and began dripping again. Strangely it dried up again almost straight away again and hasn't started leaking again (yet). I am assuming it will do so again once the system is back up to pressure.
Questions: What is this connection (I was thinking it was a pressure reducing connection because we have a pressure pump delivering water from the water tank to the HWS... inside it looks like it has something like a plastic ball that would retard the water flow... not sure now)? What does it do (I assume it something to do with expansion and relief of pressure)? Why would it be leaking like this? I'm not interested (really) in fixing it myself if it is too complicated but I do want to understand it more so that I can direct the plumber directly to it and know what it's all about or if it's an easy fix or a maintenance issue then I can do it myself. Is it indicative of some larger more pressing issue?
Sorry for all the questions and thanks in advance.
Cheers,
Simon (Australia)
Last edited on Sat Mar 6th, 2010 07:21 am by TasV
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