Gas and Oil Home Heating Furnaces - Pilot light will not stay lit

Hey guys, looking for some direction here.

We had a pretty wicked wind kick up last night and I think that was the cause of the pilot light going out. The reason I suspect this is the temperature in the house was right where it should be when I got up but within a couple of hours it had dropped a couple of degrees.

Unfortunately I don't have the model of the furnace but it is about a 20 year old ICC?

I shut the gas off and waited about 10 minutes. Turned the dial to pilot, depressed the pilot button and lit the pilot. If I hold the pilot dial down it will stay lit. The directions say to do so until the light will stay lit even after release the button. I've held the button in for as long as a couple of minutes but as soon as I release the button the pilot goes out.

I know with the age of the furnace it should be replaced, and I will be doing so as soon as the pocket book allows it but for now I'm sitting in +2C outside and a furnace that won't stay lit!

Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

*** Edit***
On further reading of other posts, it appears that my problem may be the thermocoupling. Obviously without a model and year of the furnace you guys won't be able to offer a step by step for me but in general, how difficult is it to replace one of these? I normally wouldn't hessitate to call someone in but like mentioned, I want to replace it eventually and would rather dump the labour costs into a new one.

The thermocouple is that small part that protrudes into the flame of the pilot light. It will be connected by a tube of some sort to the gas valve. You'll need the make & model to get a replacement. But before you go to the trouble of replacing it, make sure the sensor is properly situated so that it is in the flame of the pilot.

Here's some info, not the best, but some basic stuff:

http://toad.net/~jsmeenen/gasvalve.html

Here's another pic; yours will likely be different, but you get the idea:
http://www.rd.com/images/tfhimport/2000/Nov00_Furnace_Tune-up/20001101_Furnace_Tune-up_page004img001_size2.jpg

Thanks for the reply.

I ended up replacing the thermo coupler just to be sure as it was only a few bucks. Sure enough that solved the problem.

My dogs are much happier now!

Good job, Gouie.:D

Thanks! Repairing the furnace actually opened my eyes to my gas fireplace. I've been having a similar problem for a couple of years. Little different situation though, the pilot will stay lit, somethimes, but when I flick the power switch the pilot goes out.

I would assume that it works on the same concept and could be the coupler as well?

hi
my pilot will not stay lit when i try to turn it to the on position.
it did a couple days ago when i started it the first time in a couple of years.
the next day i went to start the heater and no go.
pilot light was out. i can get flame with the knob pushed in but it goes out everytime when trying to release the knob in the on position. tried 50 times and two different days. should i replace the thermocouple? the heater has no electricty going to it, it runs off the pressure of water flow to light. what should i do?

Yes, replace the thermocouple.

thanks i will try that, looks like it's hard getting at

Hi,

I have an Empire heating System Direct Vent Wall Furnace DV-210-7SG.
I can lit the pilot light with either a match or the piezo but it does not stay on after I release the knob.

However I checked all the voltages according to the manual:
1- Across the thermopile terminals: 400-500mv with thermosta OFF
2- Across the thermopile terminals: 150-250mv with thermosta ON
3- Across the thermosta wires at the valve: less than 30mv with thermosta ON

Everything is fine. So basically isn't this telling me that my Thermopile is working fine ? and if yes then why would the pilot light not stay on.

Now there are 2 more questions :
a) The pilot light does not really surround the thermopile as it says it should in the manual. But whatever it does seems to be good enough since I am getting the right voltage, and this is all that matters , right ??
b) The manual says that the pilot light going out when the knob is released could be caused by either a defective thermopile or a "defective magnet in safety section of the valve". What is that ? How can I check it ? And is it something I can repair myself safely or does it involve working with gas lines to replace the valve ?

Any help would be greatly welcome as it is almost 30F here now (4000 feet).
Thank you.

Trust me, for the relatively cheap cost, replace the thermocouple. The pilot is going out because the thermocouple is incorrectly detecting no pilot. This is a safety feature; the reason for the thermocouple in the first place. If the pilot blows out it is the thermocouple's job to tell the valve to stop sending gas.

This is by far the cheaper of the two possible problems. Valves aren't cheap.

BTW, when lighting the pilot, make sure you hold the light button for at least 60 seconds. You've got to give the thermocouple time to warm up.

Trust me, for the relatively cheap cost, replace the thermocouple. The pilot is going out because the thermocouple is incorrectly detecting no pilot. This is a safety feature; the reason for the thermocouple in the first place. If the pilot blows out it is the thermocouple's job to tell the valve to stop sending gas.

This is by far the cheaper of the two possible problems. Valves aren't cheap.

BTW, when lighting the pilot, make sure you hold the light button for at least 60 seconds. You've got to give the thermocouple time to warm up.

But if the voltage coming out of the thermopile is what it 's supposed to be how can the thermopile still be bad ?
I tried holding the knob 10 minutes. No luck