I cannot get my furnance to light, I have replaced the thermocouple, but
the pilot will not stay lit, even though it is very easy to light, what
should I do and what am I missing.


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On Mon, 10 Oct 2005 01:36:39 -0400, thunderstruck
wrote:


I cannot get my furnance to light, I have replaced the thermocouple, but
the pilot will not stay lit, even though it is very easy to light, what
should I do and what am I missing.


Press down the Pilot Light button setting to keep the pilot light lit
for half a minute or more. The thremocouple has to be warmed up
before it will generate a strong enough signal to keep the gas valve
open. Once the pilot light stays on turn the gas valve setting to ON.

I tried that, held it for two minutes, but the pilot will still not stay
lit, I got it to light once but the thermocouple was not bolted down,
after I bolted it down it would light but would not stay.


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"thunderstruck" wrote in message
...

I cannot get my furnance to light, I have replaced the thermocouple, but
the pilot will not stay lit, even though it is very easy to light, what
should I do and what am I missing.

I've seen this problem when the pilot light jet was partially plugged.
Cleaning it with a fine strand of wire solved the problem.

Bob

thunderstruck wrote:
I tried that, held it for two minutes, but the pilot will still not stay
lit, I got it to light once but the thermocouple was not bolted down,
after I bolted it down it would light but would not stay.

Make sure that when you bolt the thermocouple down that you are NOT
moving it out of the direct pilot flame.

Don

On Mon, 10 Oct 2005 10:20:18 -0400, thunderstruck
wrote:


I tried that, held it for two minutes, but the pilot will still not stay
lit, I got it to light once but the thermocouple was not bolted down,
after I bolted it down it would light but would not stay.


The last time I had the problem was years ago and can't remember too
much else. Since you said the furnace did light once then the
equipment is probably OK. The remaining suggestion is to see if the
pilot light is always directed on the tip of the thermocouple. My dim
memory of the last fix was that I had to fiddle with the thermocouple
mount (adjust mounting screw, bend the clip??) to bring the tip onto
the hottest part of the pilot light flame, the part just above the
blue cone as per high school lab description. Also use steelwool or
emery paper to clean the soot off the tip of the thermocouple. Soot
is heat insulating and may give a false reading. Maybe clean up the
original thermocouple and try relighting with that.

My house is 25 years old and at the time of its construction we had to
(new rule) put in an independent air source for the furnace combustion
air. I made a box duct to channel the outside air source direct to
the combustion inlet as an open duct from the outside was pouring very
cold air into the basement. Most people just stuffed up the pipe with
insulation. During high winds the gusts would blow out pilot light. I
placed a small sheet of metal to act as a baffle between the box duct
outlet and the pilot light. Works like a charm and that's for more
than 10 years by now.

The pilot flame should be about an inch tall, and should touch the
thermocouple.



--

Christopher A. Young
Do good work.
It's longer in the short run
but shorter in the long run.
..
..


"Donald Gares" wrote in message
...
thunderstruck wrote:
I tried that, held it for two minutes, but the pilot will still not stay
lit, I got it to light once but the thermocouple was not bolted down,
after I bolted it down it would light but would not stay.

Make sure that when you bolt the thermocouple down that you are NOT
moving it out of the direct pilot flame.

Don

that did not work, any more ideas, I would sure appreciate any help you
could give me, thank you for your time and patience.


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"thunderstruck" wrote in message
...

I cannot get my furnance to light, I have replaced the thermocouple, but
the pilot will not stay lit, even though it is very easy to light, what
should I do and what am I missing.


--
thunderstruck
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Do not discount the possibility that the gas control valve may be faulty.
Last year I went through about 10 or so thermocouples before i just got sick
of replacing thermocouples and changed the gas control valve...... to an
auto-ignition intermittent pilot system (very nice).

thunderstruck wrote:
that did not work, any more ideas, I would sure appreciate any help you
could give me, thank you for your time and patience.



Before you go completely nuts, don't assume that
the new thermocouple is working correctly. Try
another.

"thunderstruck" wrote in message
...

I cannot get my furnance to light, I have replaced the thermocouple, but
the pilot will not stay lit, even though it is very easy to light, what
should I do and what am I missing.


--
thunderstruck
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This is Turtle.

Sounds like the Gas valve being bad but you can have a problem where the
thermocouple screws down into the valve. There maybe two wires coming to the
point where the thermocouple into the valve at and these two wires goes to a
shut down on the furnace where the go to the furnace wall. these is a shut down
switch at this point and can be the problem. Check it out.

TURTLE