On Saturday, July 4, 2015 at 4:22:28 PM UTC-7, Bob F wrote:
Alphahozer wrote:
On Sunday, October 28, 2012 at 12:56:53 PM UTC-4, Bob F wrote:
The thermocouple on my 7yo Whirlpool water heater went out Sat. The
stores open on the weekend had only right hand thread thermocouples,
and as far as I could find out, the manufacturer would sell me a
conversion kit for $31 which would take 10 days to receive. (out of
warrantee)

My solution: I carefully clamped the threaded fitting on my old
thermocouple end-to-end in my vice so one face was up, then used a
1" cutting disc in my dremel tool to cut a slot into the fitting so
I could slide it off of the tube. I slid the threaded fitting on my
new thermocouple down out of the way, then slipped the slotted one
over the tube and carefully screwed it into the valve fitting. It
works perfectly.

If you have a several years old Whirlpool or American Products water
heater, you might want to check to see if it has the left hand
thread on the thermocouple. If it does, and it is still in
warrantee, contact the manufacturer now so you can get the
conversion kit for free ahead of the time you really need it.

The early symptom of failure on my thermocouple is that it took 1
1/2-2 minutes of holding down the pilot light to get it to re-light
and stay lit. The new one took about 20 seconds.



Thank You! Thank You!! Thank You!!!
You saved our Independence Day week!
Did exactly what you said and it worked perfectly!

I wish I knew how to post a pic...

You are welcome!

This has surely been my longest actively appreciated post.

Most of us can't get posts with pictures anyway. Put it on tinypic, or some
other picture posting site, then post a url to the pic here if you really want
to.

was a great idea saved time and money thanks.