When lighting a pilot light, one has to wait holding the button down for at
least a minute. This can seem a long time when down on your knees in a
cramped place. Sometimes there is a click when the valve opens, but, as with
my heater there is no sound, you have to guess. Once you let go of the
button it will shut down if the valve has not opened making it appear to be
defective. So it pays to err on the long timeframe before releasing the
button.

"David Nicoson" wrote in message
oups.com...
Last week, my water heater stopped heating. My wife and I both tried
to light the pilot according to the instructions, but it wouldn't
start. We called Whirlpool's hot-line. Some Indians told us to check
the gas line and so forth. No luck. (The furnace is running fine and
there's only a few feet of pipe between the furnace and the water
heater, so there's not a lot possible points of failure.)

I then called a plumber. He came out and the lit the thing with no
trouble. (I'm sure he thought we were ignorant, and he might be
right.) He suggested that it might have gone out because of failing
thermocouple. He checked for leaks, charged me $60, and left.

I got one tank of hot water and then the pilot went out again. I
couldn't restart it. I'm not seeing a spark, but I don't really know
if I should expect that behind the window.

It seems to me that I should get gas in the pilot position with the
override button pressed even with a defective thermocouple. Is that
right? I felt pretty good about that idea until I read this:

http://www.hometips.com/home_probsol...terheat01.html

6) *** If the pilot won't light, the thermocouple may be defective;***
either call your gas utility to check the appliance (a free service in
many areas) or call an appliance repair person.

Should I perhaps be looking for gas or air restrictions or replacing a
thermocouple?

Any advice or information is appreciated.