Water Heater Pilot Flame Goes Out

Now you have the johnny cash ring of fire song in your head.

Water heater pilot flame goes out.

The thermocouple is the copper rod the pilot flame directly hits. If there is rust against it brush that away while the flame is off may be blocking pilot flame. Not enough combustible air. If there is a restriction in the fresh air delivery find the reason and remove the obstructions.

Down draft from the ceiling fan draft at the bottom of the unit or high winds are also common reasons when the pilot would go out. If the pilot doesn t relight if it goes out right after lighting or if the pilot light keeps going out by far the most common cause is a bad thermocouple. There s just enough air getting into the burner area for the pilot light to work but not enough to sustain the big ring of fire. The water heater pilot light is a small flame that ignites the gas burner on your water heater.

The pilot tube supplies gas to the pilot light for combustion. In this hvac training video i show up close how the thermocouple pilot light and gas valve work on a water heater furnace fireplace as well as other ap. Most of the time improper venting would cause the pilot outage on direct vent gas water heaters dv. The flame will go out if the tube is clogged with dirt or debris.

2 if the pilot flame is not blue but is yellow or flickering severely it may not be keeping the thermocouple hot enough so when the draft changes as the gas burner goes off the thermocouple cools enough to shut off the gas. Sometimes the tube might be partially clogged and supplying very little gas for combustion no wonder your pilot light keeps going out. When the water heater pilot light goes out first try relighting it following the directions on the water heater label. If you re water heater doesn t have a sealed combustion chamber it s possibly that the pilot light can be blown out due to a strong draft near your unit.

If this pilot light ever goes out the heater has no way of actually turning on to heat the water or air that your particular type of heater circulates to warm the house or other elements. Here s the short answer to why the water heater burner goes out. Thorough cleaning should do the trick. The water heater is starved for air.

Sometimes it s referred to as the flame sensor it s a safety mechanism that shuts the gas off should the pilot go out.