5 open drain valve.
Gas water heater leaking from top vent.
Here are a few other possible causes.
Check the plumbing pipes above the water heater using a stepladder if necessary.
Fortunately and to your relief sometimes when your water heater is leaking from the top it may not be because of a malfunctioning or defective part.
If you suspect that you have a leak from the top turn off the power to your water heater.
Turn off the water supply to your water heater using a pipe cutting tool like this one for tight spaces cut the water pipe a couple inches below the lowest soldered.
Leaks from the top of the water heater are usually caused by one of the three connections at the top as shown in the diagram below.
Rain water when rain water travels down the flue vent pipe of a gas water heater it can collect on the top of your tank.
From its base where it screws into the water heater from the piping attached to the t p relief valve and also coming out of the open end of the pipe.
For a gas water heater turn the thermostat control to the off position.
Two places it may be leaking from include.
Most homes have a dedicated circuit breaker for an electric water heater and some were built with an easily accessible secondary shut off in the vicinity of the heater itself.
Drain your tank just slightly so you don t get any overflow as you remove the parts your replacing along with pulling.
1 turn off the water heater.
3 run garden hose to a safe place to dump hot water.
A drip from above can easily leak down on top of the water heater and even work its way down the insulation and make it look like the leak is coming from the tank itself.
Electric switch or turn the gas control valve to off 2 attach garden hose to the drain valve.
If your valve is located on the top of your water heater like in the picture below check to see where it s leaking from.
The first place to check is the plumbing pipes above the water heater.
6 open the pressure relief on the top vent and cycle several times.