relief valve went bad. on water heater

well all night frinday night we had water leaking all over the outside of our camper because the relief valve on the water heater got a leak and we didnt know it until the next morning, and had to spend about all day saturday trying to find the right size relief valve to fix it.. but we got it all repaired and it is as good as new. we probably used a lot of KOAs water. lol. more than they planned on us using.

never have had this happened anyone know what might have caused it so we can avoid it happening again ? or is it just one of those things

I have seen it happen a lot to different folks at Cove Lake.

ever heard what causes it

One guy told me that he had to much water pressure.

oh, we thought of that, too.. but we had a water regulator hooked up

Curious if you open the valve regularly like to check and see that the WH is full of water before you light it? Mine actually recommends doing that, but while testing the valve you can get particles in the valve seat that will cause a leak. Just like a home water heater, they recommend "testing" the pop-off valve, but many times when you do it wont seal back and you end up having to replace it.

I had a similar problem Friday with my WH while camping. Noticed a water leak and found a leak at the drain plug. LUCKILY I did not have a socket with me to reach it and just let it drip for another day until we got home. I took the plug out last night to reseal it and found the plug was actully broken, cheap little plastic/nylon plug. Half of it broke off and the threaded part stayed in the WH. Had to use a screw driver to dig the remaining part out of there then spent several minutes at Lowe's trying to match up the size with a brass fitting instead. I think I found what I need to solve the problem but had I tried to "tighten the plug" at the campground, I would have ended up having to turn off all the water and do without till I could find a replacement and had the tools with me to fix it.

Did replacing the pressure-temperature valve fix the leak? If it did, then your old valve just went bad. Just like any other mechanical device, it reached the end of its life. If your new one still leaks, it is likely that your pressure regulator is bad. The cheap pressure regulators that you can buy at Wally World are notorious for having a limited lifespan. Oh, and good advice by HotRod.