I ordered a mini tank 8 gallon HWH made by Bosch, the Tronic 3000T ES8 model.

It allows you to top mount or side mount. Because of that they provide two 3/4" female ports for attaching the included T&P valve. One on top and one in the side depending how you want to mount it. It also comes with a male 3/4" plug to seal off the port you are not going to use.

I put big white pipe dope on both the valve and plug, threaded them in real good. Hooked up the hot and cold and turned on water.

When the tank filled up the male plug connection leaked. I then took a bigger wrench and tightened it further until the plug is 90% recessed into the tank body so that there is no way to tighten any further unless I get a giant deep socket wrench.

Any recommendation as to what my next move should be? Note that I haven't hooked up electrical to fire up the heating element so its just cold water pressure now.

Should I back out the plug and add more dope, teflon tape and try again and hope the combo would do the trick?

Get a big deep socket wrench and try tightening it further.

Back out the male plug, go buy a different 3/4" plug that is not as shallow, or even a short 3/4" nipple and a cap.

Send it back its probably defective it will leak when you heat it up.

Thanks!



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Ok never mind the big socket wrench idea. The hole in the body is cut so tight around the port, that it does not allow the thickness of a socket around it any how...unless I trim off some of the plastic which I don't want to do.

Also, I can see the male plug is already 99% bottomed out.

I backed the plug out, it was very difficult as the wrench can't get a good grip on it with it recessed so much. I end up mutilated the hex head of the brass plug so I need to replace it any way.

put some teflon tape and a little pipe dope on it

If I tape and dope the plug real good and pressurize it and no leak, will heating the water up create more pressure and more likeihood of a leak?

Would using a brass close nipple and a brass cap give me more control to really tighten it down, or is it one more joint that is unnecessary? I already rounded the hex plug I have so I need a new one regardless.

nipple and cap sounds good

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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

here are some pictures.

The plug to the side T&P valve port is on the left side.



You can see it's recessed almost all the way but still leaking.



With plug removed.

you can NOT tighten said plug w/o a 'thinwall' socket

get a brass nipple and cap

use COPIOUS pipe tape on tank side of nipple (10 turns of 'big box store' type pulled snug)

==============================================

"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

I got a brass plug that does not have a hex top, but a small protruding square knob like a clean out. That should give me a good grip on the plug at a higher position. I also got a 1.5" nipple with a cap just in case.

Bernabeu I saw your post after I posted mine. I got parts for both ways, a 3/4" brass plug with a protruding square knob up top, and a 3/4" nipple plus cap. Which do you suggest? I am doing this in an hour.



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as advised by my friend from SC. use quite a few wraps of teflon tape with some pipe dope on top. i would use the brass plug.
P/S, teflon tape comes in different thicknesses. the type i and most pro's use is blue monster. nice and thick and i use 3-4 wraps. the tape sold by the big box stores is MUCH thinner and needs 10-12 wraps.

TWICE in 24 hours !!!!!


SUM,

use either - I would go with the nipple and cap

==============================================

"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

Packy, I can't find the Blue Monster tape, but I got the Oatey's MEGA TAPE which is also blue. I used 4 wraps of that and pipe dope on the new plug.



Then I thread it in and the square head allowed me to really crank it tight. No leak. Even with water running hot no leak.



Now that I got everything hooked up it's working the only problem I have is it has a front dial with temperature settings of MIN to MAX, and the manual says MIN is 65 and MAX is 145.





First of all the cold water here is like 80 degrees so it is starting at 80...I set it to "IDEAL" waited 20 minutes (it says recovery time is 20 minutes) and the water is barely luke warm. In fact I am not even sure it's warm. Then I set it to MAX which is supposed to be 145, I flushed the P&T valve and put a bucket outside, and I felt the water it feels like 90 degrees.

There has to be some temp limiting ring or dial somewhere.

when i install an elecric water heater i turn the water on, open he faucets to make sure it is fulland set it to 125. i then go look at the electric meter to see how fast it is spinning, turn on the power to the heater, look again at the meter to see if it is spinng faster to make sure it is heating.
yours seems to have a red light near the dial. is that an indicator? also, does your meter spin faster?

Packy, the light is supposed to be ON when the heater is in heating mode to get to the preset temperature. Once it gets there the light goes out.

I have a hard time trying to figure out the meter thing. We are all digital meters now so it's a readout. I have to find a day to go there when I can shut off the rest of the breakers and isolate the single one going to the heater to see how it's working.

It is definitely heating the water. It's just not warming to it's specification. It says 65-145 degrees so I assume 145 is MAX. I set it to MAX and the water coming out of the T&P valve after flushing for a full 20 seconds is just "kind of hot" definitely not burning my hands.

you have an 8 gallon tank

if you flush using the TP valve for 20 seconds virtually ALL the HW will be gone

the TP valve is DESIGNED for very very quick full bore flow

==============================================

"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

I flushed into a 5 gallon bucket. It wasn't a continuous flush. I tend to open/close/open/close multiple times when I flush, I stopped after the 5 gallon bucket is 2/3 full. I dipped my hand into the bucket to see how hot. It's not 145 or even 120.

soooooo, return the defective heater

==============================================

"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

fantastic help here! did a great job to try and resolve the issue the images really helped me out also.



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