Gas and Oil Home Heating Furnaces - pilot light on furnace will not stay lit!!

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09-25-00, 05:40 PM
My pilot light on our natural gas furnace always goes out after the long summer months of not activating the furnace. I usually leave the pilot light going in case of the odd cold rainy evening. Sure enough this First weekend of Autumn I discovered the light is out again. But for the second year in a row now I cannot get the lit pilot to stay lit! I know to press down and keep down the rotory black knob for 60 seconds while the pilot is burning before i switch to .'ON' . I even tried for 2 minutes same thing. i now from the past you can usually go for 20 to 30 seconds and get the lit pilot to work, but not this year.Last year we had the furnace guy over who charged us $75 for tuning up the furnace because of carboned lines or whatever. I thought we wouldn't have to see him for another 4 years.
Is there anything I am not doing?, Can i fix this myself without having to tear the lines down in front of the furnace to rebuild something??

09-25-00, 07:41 PM
If the pilot is lighting , but going out when you release the button.. I would say you need to replace the thermocoupling...Good luck... and the Furnace guy wasnt out of line with his prices, try getting Insurance for working with gas, It like killer high for a contractor. Allong with his knowlege