Water Heaters - Whirlpool Natural Gas 40 Gallon Water heater, Pilot Light not staying lit

I ran into a problem with my Whirlpool Natural Gas water heater and am wondering if there is a quick fix that I am not seeing or if further action is required.

After have the pilot light go out and speaking with Whirlpool they told us the water heated we had needed a replacement part that I could pick up at Lowes. After picking up and installing that part I can not get the Pilot Light to say lit when not holding down the red ignition button. As long as that button is held down it will light and stay light, but when I release the button the Pilot goes out.

I was curios so took the adapter piece they supplied me off and manually held the coper wire in place and was able to sustain the pilot light and get the unit to fire up.

The piece in question is a convertor that fits between the Thermocouple unit and the Thermastate that allows two wires to be run to a Thermal Switch.

Anyone have any ideas what may be going on?

Thanks and happy holidays

RWS

The thermcouple must be in the pilot flame(bend bracket as needed), and the thermocouple must be working. No way to easily test the thermocouple, but they are inexpensive. I assume you cleaned out the burner area of debris and rust??? Not sure what part you were supplied, but that does not sound like your problem.

If this is an FVIR model ( made after July 2003 ) then perhaps you are aware of all the issues and the class action lawsuit against Whirlpool and Lowes????

Google this issue for fun reading!

My problem? The pilot light went out overnight and would not stay on after several attempts to relight. Cold showers on Thanksgiving? My wife and kids complained all day long! Well, after getting on the net to research. I read several posts that indicated that I needed to replace the thermocouple. I went to ACE, found it for $10, and had it in place in 30mins. Easy fix! It is easier to remove the whole burner unit first, and then switch out the thermocouple and reinstall as suggested by another post. I have read posts where the plumbers fixed for >$300 or replaced the whole water heater...really? It's a lot easier to figure it out from others' experiences before trial and error fixes. Thank GOD that Al Gore invented the internet. I'm going to use the money I saved to go stimulate the economy.

Beer 4U2 Happy Holidays!!!

:coffee: I couldn't make up my mine until I saw your message, I have just finished it, I am not sure that you are going to come back to see this, but thanks again for your help!!!My problem? The pilot light went out overnight and would not stay on after several attempts to relight. Cold showers on Thanksgiving? My wife and kids complained all day long! Well, after getting on the net to research. I read several posts that indicated that I needed to replace the thermocouple. I went to ACE, found it for $10, and had it in place in 30mins. Easy fix! It is easier to remove the whole burner unit first, and then switch out the thermocouple and reinstall as suggested by another post. I have read posts where the plumbers fixed for >$300 or replaced the whole water heater...really? It's a lot easier to figure it out from others' experiences before trial and error fixes. Thank GOD that Al Gore invented the internet. I'm going to use the money I saved to go stimulate the economy.

Beer 4U2 Happy Holidays!!!