Checked burner flame, was burning very yellow and there was a black mass on
the side of the burner. Started cleaning the burner with my shop vac and
discovered an unburnt mouse nose on the floor of the water heater. I am
wonder if a mouse fell through the exhaust vent onto the burner trying to
get out of the rain, and burned to a crisp.

Since I cleaned it, it is burning blue and staying lit. So far so good.

"Eric in North TX" wrote in message
ups.com...
I'm assuming you mean the pilot. The only times I've had that problem
was windy days with insufficient baffling in the chimney pipe, and when
I had a bad thermocouple, but that usually prevents lighting it at all.


CJ wrote:
I live in the mountains of NM. We have gotten about 4-5 inches of rain in
the past 3 days. Yesterday my gas water heater stopped staying lit. I
relit
it last night and it was out again this morning.

Can an extreme humidity make the thermocoupler keep going out?