"Jim" wrote in message ...

Now, the thermocouple doesn't appear to sit directly in the flame on
this model, but mighty close.

The tip (approximately 3/8 of an inch) MUST be submerged into the flame.

Should the tc be bent into the flame or does that ruin them?

The thermocouple must not be bent at all!

Your furnace has safely not allowed you to light the pilot by design. A
minimum pilot must be established to safely light the main burner/s. The
distance between the pilot burner and thermocouple ensures the flame is
large enough. The placement of the pilot assembly onto the main burner, as
well as the flame pattern of the pilot is engineered into the manufacturers
design for a dependable and safe system. If the pilot flame was not large
enough or mounted in the wrong position to light the main burner
immediately, a delayed ignition (read BOOM) will occur.

The pilot assembly may be dirty, or the fuel tube to the pilot may be
leaking gas, or a good size list of other possibilities are causing the
pilot flame to be inadequate.

If it was only the thermocouple, you would be OK with replacing it.
However, your attempt to correct this problem, to get the burner to start,
may leave your furnace in a very unsafe state. No one over the internet can
say "Yah, everything looks good ". :-)

Ask around for a better recommendation if you did not feel good about the
last service company. Good luck.

-zero