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.

"David Nicoson" writes:

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.

He didn't offer to proactively replace the $8 thermocouple while he
was there?

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

I'd definitely start with the thermocouple. If you're not
comfortable with gas, $60 for a plumber visit is awfully cheap.

--
Todd H.
http://toddh.net/

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.

Todd H. wrote:
He didn't offer to proactively replace the $8 thermocouple while he
was there?

He would do that, but he quoted $300 for the installation, which we
judged to be excessive, my wife having replaced one herself.

EXT wrote:
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.

Thanks for the reply.

It's not lighting and then going out, so I don't think that's my
problem.

"David Nicoson" writes:

Todd H. wrote:
He didn't offer to proactively replace the $8 thermocouple while he
was there?

He would do that, but he quoted $300 for the installation, which we
judged to be excessive, my wife having replaced one herself.

Holy ****....

LMAO. Wow. Please post the name of this criminal's company so all
can benefit. $300 for a thermocouple?

Good call on sending them on their way with $60. BEjebus.
Thermocouples should be a $15 adder to a service call tops.

--
Todd H.
http://toddh.net/

How is it vented? Mine has a pipe within a pipe and when the inner pipe
fails flame goes out.


"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.

Todd H. wrote:
Holy ****....

LMAO. Wow. Please post the name of this criminal's company so all
can benefit. $300 for a thermocouple?

Good call on sending them on their way with $60. BEjebus.
Thermocouples should be a $15 adder to a service call tops.

I have some good experience with them in the past, so I don't feel that
harsh about them.

http://www.metzlerplumbing.com/

David:

You said: "I'm not seeing a spark, but I don't really know
if I should expect that behind the window.". Are you expecting the button to
create a spark to light your pilot light. Most water heaters need to have
the pilot light lit with a flame. The button bypasses the safety of the cold
thermocouple so that gas will pass through the pilot light so it can be lit.
Most water heaters have detailed instructions on how to light, some
including mine fails to mention that a flame needs to be applied to the
pilot to light it.


"David Nicoson" wrote in message
ups.com...
EXT wrote:
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.

Thanks for the reply.

It's not lighting and then going out, so I don't think that's my
problem.

Art wrote:
How is it vented? Mine has a pipe within a pipe and when the inner pipe
fails flame goes out.

It vents out my chimney. I don't recall what the connection between
the chimney and water heater looks like. I'll take a look when I get
home.

EXT wrote:
David:

You said: "I'm not seeing a spark, but I don't really know
if I should expect that behind the window.". Are you expecting the button to
create a spark to light your pilot light. Most water heaters need to have
the pilot light lit with a flame. The button bypasses the safety of the cold
thermocouple so that gas will pass through the pilot light so it can be lit.
Most water heaters have detailed instructions on how to light, some
including mine fails to mention that a flame needs to be applied to the
pilot to light it.

My heater is similar to this one:
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...NOV&lpage=none

I believe the large red button on the left overrides the thermocouple
and allows gas to flow even when the device is cold.

There's a button on the right (black in this picture) that goes into an
enclosed area. I lit the pilot on my old water heater with a flame,
but I believe this black button is the right method on this water
heater.

On 23 Jan 2007 08:50:43 -0800, "David Nicoson"
wrote:

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.


A thermal couple replacement might have only added about 30 bucks to
your original visit. Just that the original person couldn't reproduce
your problem(it lit and stayed lit). So a TC replacement might have
been cheap enough to just get it done.

Just next time, have your plumber/apliance repair person, stick around
to watch a full cycle. Turn on the hot water till you create a heat
demand, and watch if the pilot light remains lit.

Just a guess, not a plumber, or applicance repair person. Just a
frugal home owner.

tom @ www.FreelancingProjects.com

On Jan 23, 11:50 am, "David Nicoson" wrote:
Last week, my water heater stopped heating.

Just to close the loop on this:

The burner itself was broken into two pieces. I'm guessing the broken
piece was partially obstructing the pilot (or our view of it).

Whirlpool sent us a replacement for pretty much all of the guts and
now we have hot water.

I am really appreciating showers with warm water now. Thanks for the
responses.

The Homeowners Hub site is not a help forum.
It's an *advertising* forum that invades real
forums (like "alt.home.repair", part of
"usenet") parasitically in order to generate
free advertising for itself, which continually
advances its search engine placement, thereby
increasing its own revenue through its click-
through advertising commissions.

So the first thing you should do is write them
an email and tell them to quit spamming.

Then try to find your way here through proper
channels. Please do a google search on "Usenet"
and post the regular way.



--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"Sammy Slipsheet"
wrote in message
oups.com...
responding to
http://www.homeownershub.com/mainten...er-187811-.htm