I found my pilot light out on my furnace recently and the thermocouple
looked like it was perhaps the same age as the furnace
(~15yrs). Relighting attempts failed. The furnace had been serviced
recently due a home sale, and I'd hate to have an $80 service call for
an $8 part.

So, off to the hardware store, standard 24V 48" thermocouple purchased
(longer than the one it replaced), got it into the furnace and
.... pilot still won't stay lit after being manually lighted. I
manually kept it going for over a minute on each of several attempts
only to watch the pilot go out after releasing the button.

Now, the thermocouple doesn't appear to sit directly in the flame on
this model, but mighty close. Without bending the actual thermocouple
since the tc and pilot are in fixed positions in the bracket, the way
the pilot burns doesn't seem to hit the tc directly. The old
thermocouple wasn't bent either.

Any clues or thoughts other than "call for service" (which of course
would be the next step.).

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

Thanks for any help!

Jim