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.
Gas water heater leaking from top vent.
1 connection that generates hot water 2 connection that generates cold water 3 connection that releases pressure.
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.
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.
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.
Here are a few other possible causes.
Drain your tank just slightly so you don t get any overflow as you remove the parts your replacing along with pulling.
Two places it may be leaking from include.
Electric switch or turn the gas control valve to off 2 attach garden hose to the drain valve.
4 shut off water inlet to hot water heater.
1 turn off the water heater.
For a gas water heater turn the thermostat control to the off position.
If you suspect that you have a leak from the top turn off the power to your water heater.
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.
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.
5 open drain valve.
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.
3 run garden hose to a safe place to dump hot water.
6 open the pressure relief on the top vent and cycle several times.
Gas water heater leaking from the top where the vent pipe is attached.