Today I cleaned out the space beneath the water heater flue connection in the wall, supposedly this area is for that purpose; to clean out the flue. You would not believe what the last tenant jammed in there... 2 bed sheets! OK, well I cleaned that out, plus a half of a bucket of dirt. We replaced the flue pipe & puttied a covering over the one hole, refit the flue pipe to where it was before & puttied around the pipe.
Now, the pilot light will not stay lit, as opposed to before when everything worked to a degree, the water heater would operate for only a little while, though the flame was orange & there was water drops from somewhere making "sizzling" sounds in the inside of the water heater.
My question is, does there have to a ventilation of some sort into the (cleaning out) compartment beneath the flue junction to the chimney. We made both openings airtight w/ heater putty.
Thank you for you expertise!

Could be bad thermocouple.
Could be dirty pilot orifice.


My question is, does there have to a ventilation of some sort into the (cleaning out) compartment beneath the flue junction to the chimney

No vent required

You have cold water in your tank and have hot gas heating it, you will have condensation inside the heat exchanger part until you get the water in the tank heated up, keep relighting until you get the water warm its not going to take that long. One more thing to think about you may have a stress fracture in the tank and its not leaking until you get higher pressures on it.(from the gas heat-- expansion) One drop of water on the pilot assembly will snuff it out every time.

Take a look at this picture:

Residential Gas Hot Water Heater Exploded view from American Water Heater Company for the Natural Handyman Home Repair and Do It Yourself Website

Is the item called the "drafthood" on the top of your heater?

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Originally Posted by jcland

Today I cleaned out the space beneath the water heater flue connection in the wall, supposedly this area is for that purpose; to clean out the flue. You would not believe what the last tenant jammed in there...2 bed sheets! OK, well I cleaned that out, plus a half of a bucket of dirt. We replaced the flue pipe & puttied a covering over the one hole, refit the flue pipe to where it was before & puttied around the pipe.
Now, the pilot light will not stay lit, as opposed to before when everything worked to a degree, the water heater would operate for only a little while, though the flame was orange & there was water drops from somewhere making "sizzling" sounds in the inside of the water heater.
My question is, does there have to a ventilation of some sort into the (cleaning out) compartment beneath the flue junction to the chimney. We made both openings airtight w/ heater putty.
Thank you for you expertise!

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Hello y'all!
After my scathing email to Whirlpool Corp. they soon got in touch w/ me & authorized a Sears technician to come out & repair the water heater.
He replaced the entire gas valve assembly!
He also recommended installing a drip tube, which it did not have. So, that is our next project.
Thank you all for all your posts!