I'm at my wit's end with this. About 5 days ago, the pilot light on my water
heater blew out. I reli t it. Lasted one day. Blew out again. Pulled out the
burner assembly, replaced the thermocouple. Relit it. Lasted 15 hours. Blew
out again. Took out the burner assembly, cleaned everything in sight ..
pilot lasted around 8 hours. There are no new entrways for drafts so I don't
think its a draft issue...but to be on the safe side I stuffed every
potential air leaking crack.

I tend no to think it's a chimney issue as I've got a boiler also on that
chimney and I have no problem with the boiler. The draft on the chimney is
excellent. I'm down to two theories....one is the gas valve. Is this a
realistic issue? I've checked to see what happens when I go from full on to
pilot and back to full on and back to pilot and back to full on. It goes
back and forth on each setting with no problem. The second explanatiion
might be the "popping" effect that sometimes comes with gas abruptly
shutting off....perhaps it's possible that the gas is now "popping" when it
turns back to pilot and the force of the "pop" blows out the pilot.
Any and all suggestions gratefully received!

Thanks........Art


email to (Leave out NOSPAM when replying)

My thought is that it would take a pretty strong 'gust' to blow out the
pilotlight, particularly if it's just suddenly started happening and you
haven't been having unusually strong winds.

My bet is it's the valve. The thermocouple itself could cause this, but
generally they are either good or they aren't, and since you've eliminated
that as a possibility (good choice since they are cheap and easily replaced)
I'd vote that you need to replace the valve.

You don't say how old the tank is, and I don't know the price a a valve, but
if the tank is getting old, you might want to compare the price of a new
tank to the price of the valve.


"art" wrote in message
news
I'm at my wit's end with this. About 5 days ago, the pilot light on my
water
heater blew out. I reli t it. Lasted one day. Blew out again. Pulled out
the
burner assembly, replaced the thermocouple. Relit it. Lasted 15 hours.
Blew
out again. Took out the burner assembly, cleaned everything in sight ..
pilot lasted around 8 hours. There are no new entrways for drafts so I
don't
think its a draft issue...but to be on the safe side I stuffed every
potential air leaking crack.

I tend no to think it's a chimney issue as I've got a boiler also on that
chimney and I have no problem with the boiler. The draft on the chimney is
excellent. I'm down to two theories....one is the gas valve. Is this a
realistic issue? I've checked to see what happens when I go from full on
to
pilot and back to full on and back to pilot and back to full on. It goes
back and forth on each setting with no problem. The second explanatiion
might be the "popping" effect that sometimes comes with gas abruptly
shutting off....perhaps it's possible that the gas is now "popping" when
it
turns back to pilot and the force of the "pop" blows out the pilot.
Any and all suggestions gratefully received!

Thanks........Art


email to (Leave out NOSPAM when replying)

Your water heater doesn't have a power vent on top does it? (That is, a
blower motor). I once replaced a number of thermocouples, only to find out
that one of the sensors (that determines if the exhaust gases are being
drawn off the top) was bad. Two sensors kept shutting off the gas.
Manufacturer's rep came out and snipped the wires to one of them saying two
sensors were overkill. Solved the problem. Don't use this solution, but
consider the cause if you have a power vent top.

"art" wrote in message
news
I'm at my wit's end with this. About 5 days ago, the pilot light on my
water
heater blew out. I reli t it. Lasted one day. Blew out again. Pulled out
the
burner assembly, replaced the thermocouple. Relit it. Lasted 15 hours.
Blew
out again. Took out the burner assembly, cleaned everything in sight ..
pilot lasted around 8 hours. There are no new entrways for drafts so I
don't
think its a draft issue...but to be on the safe side I stuffed every
potential air leaking crack.

I tend no to think it's a chimney issue as I've got a boiler also on that
chimney and I have no problem with the boiler. The draft on the chimney is
excellent. I'm down to two theories....one is the gas valve. Is this a
realistic issue? I've checked to see what happens when I go from full on
to
pilot and back to full on and back to pilot and back to full on. It goes
back and forth on each setting with no problem. The second explanatiion
might be the "popping" effect that sometimes comes with gas abruptly
shutting off....perhaps it's possible that the gas is now "popping" when
it
turns back to pilot and the force of the "pop" blows out the pilot.
Any and all suggestions gratefully received!

Thanks........Art


email to (Leave out NOSPAM when replying)

turns back to pilot and the force of the "pop" blows out the pilot.
Any and all suggestions gratefully received!

Thanks........Art

Art:

The boiler starting may cause the water heater pilot to "snuff". To check this
make sure the water heater is just burning the pilot and have another person
turn up the thermostat...if the water heater pilot "snuffs"...it is time to
contact your favorite HVAC pro to check gas pressures.

"snuff"= Lancaster county PA for getting real small or going away

Vic Plank
Lancaster PA

Maybe the tank has a crack in it. When the burner comes on to heat the
water, the tank expands and drip water on the pilot. It happen to me had to
replace the tank it was only about 7yrs old.


I'm at my wit's end with this. About 5 days ago, the pilot light on my
water heater blew out. I reli t it. Lasted one day. Blew out again.
Pulled out the burner assembly, replaced the thermocouple. Relit it.
Lasted 15 hours. Blew out again. Took out the burner assembly, cleaned
everything in sight .. pilot lasted around 8 hours. There are no new
entrways for drafts so I don't think its a draft issue...but to be on
the safe side I stuffed every potential air leaking crack.

I tend no to think it's a chimney issue as I've got a boiler also on
that chimney and I have no problem with the boiler. The draft on the
chimney is excellent. I'm down to two theories....one is the gas
valve. Is this a realistic issue? I've checked to see what happens
when I go from full on to pilot and back to full on and back to pilot
and back to full on. It goes back and forth on each setting with no
problem. The second explanatiion might be the "popping" effect that
sometimes comes with gas abruptly shutting off....perhaps it's
possible that the gas is now "popping" when it turns back to pilot
and the force of the "pop" blows out the pilot. Any and all
suggestions gratefully received!

Thanks........Art


email to (Leave out NOSPAM when replying)

Actually, a good suggestion. My friend the plumber suggested it too so
you're in good company. But alas, that doesn't seem to be it. But thanks for
your help!!

Art

"madmun" wrote in message
...
Maybe the tank has a crack in it. When the burner comes on to heat the
water, the tank expands and drip water on the pilot. It happen to me had
to
replace the tank it was only about 7yrs old.


I'm at my wit's end with this. About 5 days ago, the pilot light on my
water heater blew out. I reli t it. Lasted one day. Blew out again.
Pulled out the burner assembly, replaced the thermocouple. Relit it.
Lasted 15 hours. Blew out again. Took out the burner assembly, cleaned
everything in sight .. pilot lasted around 8 hours. There are no new
entrways for drafts so I don't think its a draft issue...but to be on
the safe side I stuffed every potential air leaking crack.

I tend no to think it's a chimney issue as I've got a boiler also on
that chimney and I have no problem with the boiler. The draft on the
chimney is excellent. I'm down to two theories....one is the gas
valve. Is this a realistic issue? I've checked to see what happens
when I go from full on to pilot and back to full on and back to pilot
and back to full on. It goes back and forth on each setting with no
problem. The second explanatiion might be the "popping" effect that
sometimes comes with gas abruptly shutting off....perhaps it's
possible that the gas is now "popping" when it turns back to pilot
and the force of the "pop" blows out the pilot. Any and all
suggestions gratefully received!

Thanks........Art


email to (Leave out NOSPAM when replying)

A good suggestion....I tried it but no....that's not it. Thanks so much for
your response!

Art

"snuff" = New York City for killing someone unfortunate enough to talk to me
before morning coffee

"POPPYPLANK" wrote in message
...
turns back to pilot and the force of the "pop" blows out the pilot.
Any and all suggestions gratefully received!

Thanks........Art

Art:

The boiler starting may cause the water heater pilot to "snuff". To check
this
make sure the water heater is just burning the pilot and have another
person
turn up the thermostat...if the water heater pilot "snuffs"...it is time
to
contact your favorite HVAC pro to check gas pressures.

"snuff"= Lancaster county PA for getting real small or going away

Vic Plank
Lancaster PA

I think you're right. I'm replacing the water heater today. The valve costs
$77, the water heater costs $202. Math wins! Thanks a lot for your response!

Art...............


"mwlogs" wrote in message
...
My thought is that it would take a pretty strong 'gust' to blow out the
pilotlight, particularly if it's just suddenly started happening and you
haven't been having unusually strong winds.

My bet is it's the valve. The thermocouple itself could cause this, but
generally they are either good or they aren't, and since you've eliminated
that as a possibility (good choice since they are cheap and easily
replaced)
I'd vote that you need to replace the valve.

You don't say how old the tank is, and I don't know the price a a valve,
but
if the tank is getting old, you might want to compare the price of a new
tank to the price of the valve.


"art" wrote in message
news
I'm at my wit's end with this. About 5 days ago, the pilot light on my
water
heater blew out. I reli t it. Lasted one day. Blew out again. Pulled out
the
burner assembly, replaced the thermocouple. Relit it. Lasted 15 hours.
Blew
out again. Took out the burner assembly, cleaned everything in sight ..
pilot lasted around 8 hours. There are no new entrways for drafts so I
don't
think its a draft issue...but to be on the safe side I stuffed every
potential air leaking crack.

I tend no to think it's a chimney issue as I've got a boiler also on
that
chimney and I have no problem with the boiler. The draft on the chimney
is
excellent. I'm down to two theories....one is the gas valve. Is this a
realistic issue? I've checked to see what happens when I go from full on
to
pilot and back to full on and back to pilot and back to full on. It goes
back and forth on each setting with no problem. The second explanatiion
might be the "popping" effect that sometimes comes with gas abruptly
shutting off....perhaps it's possible that the gas is now "popping" when
it
turns back to pilot and the force of the "pop" blows out the pilot.
Any and all suggestions gratefully received!

Thanks........Art


email to (Leave out NOSPAM when replying)