Could this explode?

As you can see, the P &T valve on the water heater is jammed up against my furnace. You cannot lift the lever on the valve. Somehow, this passed inspection when they installed this water heater 4 years ago (before I bought the house). Home inspector did not notice or comment on this. I had the gas company out the other day to service my AC. When the repairman saw this, he said it was "insane" and that I basically have a ticking time bomb in my house that could explode. Let's say that got my attention.

The reason this was installed this way is that there is simply no room in the utility closet for the water heater, but they put it in there anyway. So, I'm trying to determine how much of a danger this is.

Thanks,

Jack

All they would have done is rotate the heater a bit and you would not have the problem. All that is happening is that you cannot "test" the valve and replacing it could be a challenge, but it is NOT a "ticking time bomb" because when the valve operates the handle does NOT move. A good service person, which gas company personnel may not be, would have known that.

Thanks for the reply. I had my doubts about his warnings since this passed inspection and the home inspector didn't mention it. I'm going to replace this water heater in any case, but good to know I won't blow up in the meantime. Thanks.

Some water heater have the T/P on top of the tank. You still have to have a pipe running to the floor.