what causes the pilot light to go out on a hot water heater

If yous're not a technician yourself, then I can imagine that at that moment, nothing is more than annoying than battling with a pilot calorie-free that won't stay lit.

Asides from preventing the furnace from functioning correctly, it can also deny you the condolement of a steamy morning shower. There are numerous reasons why your pilot calorie-free trips off over and over. We'll try to touch all the possible reasons why your heater is in such a situation.

Read till the cease of the weblog, so you can be informed of the reasons for the faults so yous tin can foreclose them in the future. After discussing the causes, nosotros will recommend some possible solutions that y'all can apply to set up the problem.

Why Does Your Heater'south Airplane pilot Light Keep Going Off?

These are the most common reasons why your heater's pilot low-cal won't stay lit:

1. Obstructed Thermocouple

Well-nigh recently manufactured water heaters function with the aid of a thermocouple.

This equipment is the core reason why your water heater functions, it also knows if the pilot calorie-free is on or off through an electrical current that draws ability from the pilot's oestrus.

One time the thermocouple detects that the airplane pilot light isn't lit, it turns the gas off equally a safety measure out.

An unlit pilot can likewise stalk from a dirty thermocouple as the dirt may be obstructing the electric current signal, which would as well lead to a gas outage.

Clean your thermocouple: Yes, you tin can clean your thermocouple, simply before you do this, confirm that the gas valve is off as you won't want to take a chance letting it leak. The thermocouple tin can easily exist located and cleaned.

ii. Bent Thermocouple

Asides from being dirty and grimy, the thermocouple tin also get aptitude or bent to the signal where information technology starts to lose the estrus point from the electrical current.

In most cases, the thermocouple may have curved as well far away from the airplane pilot, which is problematic as information technology won't be able to observe the heat bespeak.

Straighten your thermocouple: Normally, the flame is supposed to slightly impact the thermocouple and then it tin can register the heat. If you noticed that the thermocouple is bent, y'all could fix the problem by bending it dorsum towards the pilot. Don't forget to wait for it to absurd down first.

3. Damaged Thermocouple

Some other reason why your airplane pilot may be unlit may exist as a result of a broken thermocouple. If you check the thermocouple and it isn't muddy, grimy, or curved, it may have been damaged.

To confirm your suspicions, remove the thermocouple and examination it with a multimeter.

Before removing the thermocouple, ensure the gas is turned off, and the thermocouple is cool. If the voltage it supplies is beneath 20 MV, then it is damaged.

Damaged Thermocouple Solutions: Dealing with a broken thermocouple is somewhat techy, and equally such, you may require the expertise of a technician if you're not one. Thermocouples can be repaired if it is only slightly damaged. If information technology is too desperately damaged, you lot may accept to replace it.

4. Dirty Pilot Tube

Assuming you accept checked the thermocouple and it's intact, another possibility why your water heater may be malfunctioning may be as a result of a dingy pilot tube.

In case you're wondering how this stops your tankless gas water heater from working, your pilot tube may be choked or totally blocked past dirt, and the gas volition exist unable to flow equally it should.

Clean the pilot tube: In this case, your airplane pilot tube needs thorough cleaning to function properly. After taking the necessary precautions, make clean the pilot tube with a small needle. Lookout out for large objects as they might be the biggest culprits. When you're done, test the heater on and see if the pilot light stays lit. If it doesn't, remove the tube and clean it once again.

5. Flex Tube Defects

This likewise some other possible reason why your pilot's light won't come on. The flex tube is how the gas reaches the device, and if the continuous flow of gas is interrupted, the airplane pilot light won't stay lit. This unremarkably happens when the tube is kinked at one or many points.

Cheque the flex tube: Check forth the tube to straighten it, then there's no obstruction to the flow of gas. However, if this doesn't solve the issue, you lot may demand to alter the tube entirely. Before you lot resort to irresolute the tubes, ensure that yous've conducted all other checks because flex tube problems are generally less frequent.

6. Principal Control Valve

A faulty primary control tin can be the reason why the pilot light won't stay on.

This is some other issue that occurs less frequently, and so you must eliminate other possibilities before assuming the fault is from the master control.

If you're unsure, use your multimeter to check the controls.

Replace the control valve: Most times, if the command valve gets faulty, a technician will be able to repair it. However, if you lot want your h2o heater to last, and if you lot wish to avoid time to come expenses, so you should consider irresolute the chief command valve entirely.

7. Faulty Electric Organisation

This upshot is generally attributed to electric water heaters.

This event often stems from the bad wiring of the internal devices. A wrongly wired electrical water heater tends to accident up the fuse and shorten the circuits, which are the major problems an electric water heater experiences.

A faulty electric system is often detected past a billow shutdown, which causes the involuntary shutdown of the water heater.

How to set up: If y'all doubtable that in that location is a fault with the electrical wiring, call an expert to bank check the wiring. Practice not try to set up information technology yourself if y'all don't have adequate feel.

eight. A faulty burner

If your water heater's burner is lacking, then this is likely to affect ignition, which may cause the pilot's lite to go off.

How to fix: In most cases, it is advisable to change the burner entirely, but get-go you lot tin deport some preliminary checks. Turn on your hot water tap and expect for about iv -5 minutes for the burner to ignite. If this fails, try switching to a lower temperature and and so back to see if the burner ignites. If it doesn't, y'all should replace it.

How to Re-Ignite the Pilot Light

Every water heater comes with some instructions. Before you lot proceed with this step, you should exercise farthermost caution equally yous volition be dealing with gas. Switch your thermostat to heat mode and get it upwardly to about 80 degrees to go on it going. Look for the pilot valve on your furnace and effort to locate the on/off knob, turn the knob to "off."

The pilot calorie-free should be close to the gas burner tube, scout information technology closely. Ignite the flame with a long match while switching the knob to "airplane pilot," hold it in the position for 35 seconds. Once the airplane pilot comes on, turn the knob back to "on."

If the above procedure proves futile, repeat the process, and elongate the waiting fourth dimension to 60 seconds. This is to brand sure that the thermocouple gets hot plenty to signal the airplane pilot low-cal to come on. This is otherwise known equally jump-starting the thermocouple. If yous repeat the process five times, and the issue is the same, then other problems might be the cause.

Accept advantage of your warranty

In almost cases, most water heaters tend to come with a 1 or 2-year warranty. If your airplane pilot calorie-free malfunctions during this period, you can always become back to where you bought it and get it fixed. This is exceptionally beneficial considering, in most cases, they may supersede any damaged equipment or supervene upon the water heater entirely.

Hire a technician

If your h2o heater has exceeded the warranty period and y'all've made all necessary checks and adjustments equally suggested here, this may be your just move. While most homeowners might consider this a final resort, you should empathize that most people are non DIY-inclined.

Also, dealing with gas and electricity is quite delicate, which is why you lot should exist quite careful. Hiring a technician might incur extra expenses, but it might also exist keeping y'all condom, which should be a top priority.

On the plus side, hiring a technician or a handyman ensures that yous don't impairment anything else, which will also cost more to fix. A technician also has the trend to observe any future problem and rendering some advice or tips to avoid information technology.

Final thoughts

There are many things that could go wrong and cause your airplane pilot light non to stay lit. The usual suspects, withal, are the thermocouple, pilot tube, flex tube, and master control valve. The suggestions in this blog should help you set up these issues or at least help you sympathize the cause of the problem.

If zip works, you should hire a trained technician to fix the pilot calorie-free. Have you dealt with an unlit pilot situation earlier? We will beloved to hear your thoughts in the comments section below.

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Source: https://www.sunrisespecialty.com/water-heater-pilot-light-keeps-going-out