Hi,

I'm not sure what is causing the water heater pilot light to go out. It doesn't happen at all in the summer, even during times of high wind. It only goes out in the winter. This started happening at the end of last winter. I realize I should have had it checked out at that time but when the warm weather came I forgot all about it:rolleyes: I turned on the furnace for the first time this winter a fews days ago. The furnace and water heater are side-by-side in an enclosed closet. The pilot on the water heater went out an hour or so later. I relit it and it has gone out 3-4 more times since then. It seems reasonable to me that when the furnace turns on/off that the sudden change in air flow in the enclosed space causes the pilot to go out (does this even make sense?) but the pilot light went out twice today and the furnace never came on at all. The first time was early this morning (the furnace had not come on all night) and the second time was this evening. I checked the pilot when I came home and it was on. I took a shower a couple hours later and quickly realized that the pilot had gone out. It lights easily and stays lit for a day or two at a time. Any suggestions/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Condencation that forms in the water heaters bafful(where the vent concect to the water heater) or in single wall vent can drip and put the pilot out? Since it only happen in winter condencation in a likely colpret. 2nd replacement of termol coupler might be needed(this is what keeps the pilot light on. #3rd age is a factor.

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Originally Posted by azflag

Hi,

I'm not sure what is causing the water heater pilot light to go out. It doesn't happen at all in the summer, even during times of high wind. It only goes out in the winter. This started happening at the end of last winter. I realize I should have had it checked out at that time but when the warm weather came I forgot all about it:rolleyes: I turned on the furnace for the first time this winter a fews days ago. The furnace and water heater are side-by-side in an enclosed closet. The pilot on the water heater went out an hour or so later. I relit it and it has gone out 3-4 more times since then. It seems reasonable to me that when the furnace turns on/off that the sudden change in air flow in the enclosed space causes the pilot to go out (does this even make sense?) but the pilot light went out twice today and the furnace never came on at all. The first time was early this morning (the furnace had not come on all night) and the second time was this evening. I checked the pilot when I came home and it was on. I took a shower a couple hours later and quickly realized that the pilot had gone out. It lights easily and stays lit for a day or two at a time. Any suggestions/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

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Does the furnace have a pilot light, or electric ignition?
When you turn the furnace off for summer, do you do it simply by not using it, or do you turn off the gas supply to it as well?
Is the enclosed closet outdoors (like in the garage) or inside an interior closet?
Is the thermocouple for the water tank inside the pilot flame, or is it moved slightly off to one side of the flame?

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Originally Posted by Hillman Hydro Jetting

condencation that forms in the water heaters bafful(where the vent concect to the water heater) or in single wall vent can drip and put the pilot out? Since it only happen in winter condencation in a likely colpret. 2nd replacement of termol coupler might be needed(this is what keeps the pilot light on. #3rd age is a factor.

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Thanks for the info. I checked for condensation and found none. I'm not sure of the age of the water heater. We've been in the house for 5 years but it looks pretty new. Hard to tell for sure. I'm thinking of just replacing the thermocouple this weekend. It is cheap enough and seems easy enough. I had to relight the pilot 5 times yesterday evening!

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Does the furnace have a pilot light, or electric ignition?
When you turn the furnace off for summer, do you do it simply by not using it, or do you turn off the gas supply to it as well?
Is the enclosed closet outdoors (like in the garage) or inside an interior closet?
Is the thermocouple for the water tank inside the pilot flame, or is it moved slightly off to one side of the flame?

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The furnace has a pilot light. We just don't use the furnace in the summer; I don't turn the gas off to it. It is located in an interior closet. I'm at work so I can't check to get you an answer to the last question. I'm assuming it is supposed to be in the pilot flame. Is this correct?

Thanks for the replies

No problem, your termolcoupler probably your problem, but remember looks can be deceiving. Depending on your area your water can put a lot of ware on a water heater. Hard water deposits cause more sediment build-up and lime scales to form around water connections and faucets( it looks like green mold). I work in la/orange county and I come across 3 yr. old water heaters that look good for the outside and are dead from the inside. So if replacing the termolcoupler doesn't work call a plumber or replace it.

We have a similar problem in cold Michigan in the winter only when the furnace is operating. It is relatively new water heater and forced air gas furnace sitting side by side and sharing same exhaust piping to outside. The problem seems to occur mostly when it is windy. We think it may be due to lack of sufficient combustion air when furnace burner goes on and draws in air and creates a draft or vacuum that blows out the water heater pilot light. We are not sure why this would occur in light of the draft diverter on top of the water heater that is supposed to divert drafts so as not to do this. Diverter has the proper open air spacing. We are still looking for a solution. Had two HVAC companies out. One put a baffle in the piping to try to stop drafts and another put a directional hood on the top of the exhaust vent on the roof to deal with winds and possible venturi effect. Neither has stopped the problem. One person suggested that connection of water heater exhaust to the vertical section of the furnace exhaust pipe instead of the horozontal section could be a reason, but we don't know why.

I had a similar problem in a house that was four years old. In the cold early spring the water heater pilot light would go out daily, sometimes a couple times a day. When I relit it, it would work fine until it went out again. When summer came along I had no problems with the pilot light. It always stayed lit in warm weather and I never relit it once during the summer. When winter came, I had the same problem happen. I removed the thermocouple on the water heater and cleaned it. Didn't fix the problem. I replaced the pilot assembly, which includes the thermocoupler, and still had the same problem. I cleaned the spark arrester screen under the water heater, made sure there were no drafts, checked the gas valve with a volt meter to make sure it was properly working and still had the problem. I also noticed that my upstairs furnace (I have a dual zone, upstairs and downstairs have different furnaces) was having trouble lighting sometimes. It would work sometimes and try to relight itself 20-30 times before automatically shutting off. Now I was having two separate problems. I talked to my neighbor who is an HVAC guy and he was stumped. So a long story short, I tried everything and started to wonder if the two problems were related. I scoured the internet and could not find anybody who had a solution to this problem and nobody could seem to answer it, so I really hope this helps someone like me who was racking their brain and going crazy over it. This step takes two people. Have someone go outside and watch the pilot light while it is lit. Then have the other person turn the thermostat up to turn the heater on. Watch that pilot light carefully. If it flickers just a little bit, turns color, or goes out, then you have a regulator problem. On newer homes, there is a gas regulator after the gas meter that is inline before a gas manifold that has many ports. On some homes, there is a regulator for every appliance, but my case, I had the setup with the manifold. That regulator controls how much gas is allowed to go to each appliance. When it starts to fail, it automatically lowers the pressure as a safety precaution. Then there is no longer enough pressure to supply all your appliances. When I turned on my heater, as soon as it kicked on, I watched the pilot light go out right in front of my eyes. The heater needs enough gas to start, and since the regulator was no longer allowing enough, it took some of the gas pressure away from the water heater to start its cycle and boom, out goes the pilot light. I replaced the regulator and everything works perfect now. Just to let you know, my neighbor the HVAC guy said it wasn't a gas pressure issue. I thought it was the only thing it could have been. You can call your local gas company and they usually will come out and check your meter to make sure it is supplying enough gas to your house. That is the first step to take, after that, replace that regulator. It only cost between $25-50 for the part. If you don't know how to install it yourself, I would recommend having a professional who knows what they are doing when it comes to gas install it. You will probably spend $75-100 dollars in labor. I hope this helps someone because I was the one looking for answers on the internet not long ago. Good Luck!

I also forgot to tell you that my furnace problem was solved as well. The reason it had something to do with the cold weather was because we were starting to use the heater.

Hi Battery...

You have presented something quite specific to your area, but it is still very helpful for people with regulator systems... ;) Thank you for taking the time to post the info...

Mark