The water heater part of the mystery deepens. I capped off the hot and cold feeds to the external shower and decided to retest the system. Again, with the water heater off and shore water on (with a regulator) the TM sat overnight with no leak other than a few drops where I capped the external shower. When I turned on the water heater, the drip at the cold connector to the external shower picked up some, but not as bad as when the shower was connected (again, I suspect it’s the beveled rubber washer.) After running the hot water out a few times and letting it reheat, I was about to call it done when I noticed there was a fair bit of water under the kitchen sink by the hot water heater. It looks like the water leaked out the plastic connector where the cold water enters the hot water tank. I checked the rest of the connections around the TM and also found some water had leaked out from the pipes feeding the internal shower.
Does anyone have any ideas why I’m getting leaks when the water heater runs? It’s like it imparts back pressure on the cold water input line. (as far as I can tell, all the leaks are on the cold lines.) Help!
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