Kitchen Gas Appliances - water heater pilot
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stix309
01-15-04, 03:24 PM
Over the last few days the pilot light on the hot water tank has gone out. I have had been able to relight it sometimes right away sometimes it gives me a hard time
Sharp Advice
01-15-04, 04:09 PM
Hello stix309. Welcome to my Gas Appliances topic.
Pilot outage can be caused by several possiblities. The most likely is a wornout thermocouple. Replacing it should resolve the problem.
A thermocouple is the part the pilot flame touchs and keeps hot. The end containing the element bulb is inside the water heaters firebox. Be sure the control knob is turn off prior to removing the two covers to access the inside of the firebox.
Follow the very thin tube outwards until you locate where it is connected. It will be screwed into the bottom of the main control valve. This location is usually just to the left side of the larger diameter center aluminum burner gas tube.
On some water heaters the burner assembly must be completely removed from the inside of the burner compartment to remove the element end of the thermocouple from it's holding assembly.
The end of the thermocouple will be on the left side under the control and has a male threaded end. This end must be carefully unscrewed out of the control housing using a small open ended wrench.
A thermocouple is generic except for it's length. Thermocouples are made in different lengths. Measure the removed part or take the one you remove to any hardware store and replace it with an exact duplicate in length. The parts cost is very nominal.
New thermocouple packages will contain complete do-it-yourself installation instructions and pictures. The package also contains additional clips of various assortments.
Not all the parts contained in the package with the thermocouple will be needed. The packages contain an assortment of holding parts and clips that are generic and designed to fit a wide variety of water heaters applications.
Once you have installed the replacement thermocouple, turn the control to the 'PILOT' position. Relite the pilot in the normal manner. Replace the inner fireboxes metal cover.
Next rotate the control knob to the 'ON" position. The burner flames should lite up and resume heating the tanks water to the preset desired thermostats temperature.
If the burner doesn't light up immediately, the water in the tank may already be hot enough. To verify this, rotate the temperature knob to a higher setting to test it. The burner flames should now lite up and resume heating the tanks water.
If you had to remove the entire burner assembly, soap test the two tubing nut fittings to the right of the thermocouple fitting while the burner is ON.
If there are any leaks, tighten the hex head fittings carefully and as needed, to stop any visable leaks, as indicated by the soap bubbles. Applying a lite weight oil to the threads helps.
HAND start the threads to avoid cross threading and damaging the threads. Once your sure the threads are correctly prestarted and tightened as much as possible using fingers only, use a wrench to further tighten the nut but do it carefully. Just firmly secured.
An excellent source for orginal replacement parts is your local retail appliance parts store. Parts dealers are listed in the phone book under appliances. Local hardware stores also sell replacement thermocouples.
Pilot outage can be caused by several possiblities. The most likely is a wornout thermocouple. Replacing it should resolve the problem.
A thermocouple is the part the pilot flame touchs and keeps hot. The end containing the element bulb is inside the water heaters firebox. Be sure the control knob is turn off prior to removing the two covers to access the inside of the firebox.
Follow the very thin tube outwards until you locate where it is connected. It will be screwed into the bottom of the main control valve. This location is usually just to the left side of the larger diameter center aluminum burner gas tube.
On some water heaters the burner assembly must be completely removed from the inside of the burner compartment to remove the element end of the thermocouple from it's holding assembly.
The end of the thermocouple will be on the left side under the control and has a male threaded end. This end must be carefully unscrewed out of the control housing using a small open ended wrench.
A thermocouple is generic except for it's length. Thermocouples are made in different lengths. Measure the removed part or take the one you remove to any hardware store and replace it with an exact duplicate in length. The parts cost is very nominal.
New thermocouple packages will contain complete do-it-yourself installation instructions and pictures. The package also contains additional clips of various assortments.
Not all the parts contained in the package with the thermocouple will be needed. The packages contain an assortment of holding parts and clips that are generic and designed to fit a wide variety of water heaters applications.
Once you have installed the replacement thermocouple, turn the control to the 'PILOT' position. Relite the pilot in the normal manner. Replace the inner fireboxes metal cover.
Next rotate the control knob to the 'ON" position. The burner flames should lite up and resume heating the tanks water to the preset desired thermostats temperature.
If the burner doesn't light up immediately, the water in the tank may already be hot enough. To verify this, rotate the temperature knob to a higher setting to test it. The burner flames should now lite up and resume heating the tanks water.
If you had to remove the entire burner assembly, soap test the two tubing nut fittings to the right of the thermocouple fitting while the burner is ON.
If there are any leaks, tighten the hex head fittings carefully and as needed, to stop any visable leaks, as indicated by the soap bubbles. Applying a lite weight oil to the threads helps.
HAND start the threads to avoid cross threading and damaging the threads. Once your sure the threads are correctly prestarted and tightened as much as possible using fingers only, use a wrench to further tighten the nut but do it carefully. Just firmly secured.
An excellent source for orginal replacement parts is your local retail appliance parts store. Parts dealers are listed in the phone book under appliances. Local hardware stores also sell replacement thermocouples.