My Apollo 5010 gas water heater is leaking from the tap on the side of the tank near the bottom. It is just a steady drip. It works fine other than that. It has a knob on it that I have tried to tighten, but it still drips. What can I do to fix it?

 

bj, if this is a heater for domestic hot water, you aren't exactly in the correct forum... but let's stick here for a bit anyway.

You seem to be talking about the drain valve on the water heater. There are two places a valve can leak from; directly out of the hose connection; OR around the 'stem' that the handle is connected to. Can you tell for sure where yours is leaking from?

If it is leaking from around the stem with the handle, take a look at the valve and you will see that there is a 'nut' around that stem. There is a 'packing' material inside that 'nut'. SOMETIMES all you need to do is just very slightly tighten that nut to squeeze the packing a bit more... IF that's where it is leaking from.

If it's leaking from the hose connection part, you probably would have to replace the valve, and this would involve shutting off the water supply to the heater, and completely draining the heater to change the valve. It IS possible to change the 'washer' in the valve, but you would still have to drain it.

You do have an option though... go to HD or Lowes, and pick up a brass hose cap. Screw the cap on snugly and forget about it...