I have a hot water heater that's just started shutting off. When I contacted Ge for technical assistance, they said that the thermocouple may have gone bad. I replaced the thermocouple and blew the gas line out to clear the burner and yet I still can not get my hot water heater to stay on. When I spoke to Ge technical support and told them what was done; they asked me if the pipe leading out to the chimney is pitched up. At first it was not pitched in the up position. It went on a 90 degree angle then straight into the side of the chimney. I they positioned it up. They explained to me that these new hot water heaters has a senser and it may be pushing back into the hot water heater and keep turning it off. My next step is the replace the gas valve but I can't afford to have someone come out to replace it and I'm back to square one. What should I do at this point?

It is not the gas shut off valve. It is highly unlikely that it is the heater gas valve. These seem to last forever. I assume that this heater has been installed and operating for some period. If so, it would not be the pitch, or lack of pitch of the flue. If this heater has been installed in the last few years chances are that it has a sealed combustion chamber and has a combustion air filter that needs to be cleaned. Leave the cover of the combustion chamber off temporarily and see what happens.