This one was a new one for me. Had a TPR valve at the side discharge, and at the Hot supply. All plumbed together with the drain pan plumbed in as well. Anybody seen this before? And yes I called out The PVC drain lines…
Someone thought 2 are better than 1, but only 1 is needed. Multiple TPR valves must not be tied together like that. It is also possible that at some point in the past the top TPR was just a PRV set to lower PSI than a typical TPR (150) in lieu of an expansion tank, but that would also be improper.
Where is the dirt leg for the gas? the pic is blurry and very low resolution.
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It was moved to the TPR discharge piping 
Ya, the creative “plumber” didn’t have an elbow, so he tee’ed it 
what’s the big deal, she’ll be fine! Wait! Maybe he left a tail for future expansion LOL now I am thinking outside the box, too!
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Thats what I figured with 2 being better than 1, I guess you can never be too safe, even when all you’re doing is adding one more piece to go wrong.
Interesting thought about using the top valve instead of an expansion tank, that didn’t occur to me. Next time get a licensed plumber. Called the sediment drop, after seeing the TPR setup im not surprised they didn’t put the drip leg in either.
Or he just thought using 4 feet of flex pipe would do the trick…
The only thing I can think of is the valve in the tank is a temperature relief valve and the valve on the water line is a pressure relief valve. The valve in the heater may be a TPRV and the valve in the pipe may be a thermal expansion control valve installed on the wrong pipe. The discharge piping configuration is wrong either way.
At least the seismic straps are pretty close to being proper.
Yeap, some of them look just like a typical WH TPRV, that’s why it’s important to check the tags on them to ensure a proper one was installed. However, a PRV is not a substitute for an expansion tank for a water heater with a tank because it would open all the time or allow excessive pressure build up (if a high PSI PRV is used). They are only to serve as a safety device on things like boilers, on-demand WHs, and water heaters for pools.
Rheem does manufacture a water heater with 2 tanks. This could be one of those models
Can you list the model. I’m not aware of a two tank Rheem water heater.
i think they meant to put a thermal expansion valve there because there is no tank and the guy at home depot pointed them to the tpr valves…but it should be on the cold line rather than the hot…just a guess
Please list the MN, Manufacturer and Model Number.
Explain, what the water heater was used for.
As for 2 TPRV’s on a single water heater. I have never run into a situation like this myself.
Awaiting your reply.
Interesting conversations, but this still piping design is simply wrong.
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Already been said by Simon, but discharge pipe cannot connect to pipe serving another relief device. The second relief valve is likely redundant, but I wouldn’t call it out as a defect.