# Water heater pilot still wont light.



## johnjamesalaska (Dec 30, 2005)

Hello all, 

My pilot light went out so of course I tried to relight it. Flame comes on but it wont stay lit. SoOo I changed my thermo coupler with no change. SoOo I shut the water off and I drained my tank (I thought), by hooking up to the hose connection. It drained with decent flow for a couple of hours. There was a small bit coming still coming out but it was a very small trickle. When I pulled the thermostat off, it made a glug glug sound and water came out sOoo I quickly threw the new one in and now it wont even flame. Its a whirlpool. All the replacement parts are identical. What besides buying a whirlpool two years ago and not getting proffessional to repair it , did I do wrong? 

Thanks for any help.


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## mdshunk (Mar 13, 2005)

Don't suppose the tank is dripping on the pilot assembly, is it?


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## johnjamesalaska (Dec 30, 2005)

nope..dry as a bone.


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## Ishmael (Mar 14, 2007)

Something obstructing the exhaust vent terminal?


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## johnjamesalaska (Dec 30, 2005)

Well.. I m not sure of what an exhaust vent terminal is, but , if its that pipe coming out of the top it seems fine.


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## Ron The Plumber (Oct 10, 2006)

Thermstat controller going bad? Maybe


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## JamesNLA (Jun 2, 2006)

pipe dope get in the way?


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## fireguy (Oct 29, 2006)

Common mistakes, rember I have never changed a thermocouple in a water heater, just commercial gas stoves. These are in no particular order
1. using pipe dope on threads that screw into the safety valve
2. kinking the capillary tube
3. Need 1/3 of the end of the tube in the flame. 
4. end of tube glowing red, indicates tube too close to flame.
5. bad safety valve.
6. plugged gas tube or pilot
7. Bad connection between nut and safte valve. Loosen and tighten again.

fireguy


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## POOLMANinCT (Oct 7, 2006)

check continuity of safety harness? limits etc?

a redundant high limit is part of pilot circuit on some models


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## gmp (Feb 23, 2007)

Is pilot flame blue and strong? Is the flame impinging on the tip of the thermocouple about 3/8 of an inch?


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## POOLMANinCT (Oct 7, 2006)

call a guy


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## Terrence (Jul 6, 2006)

This might seem like "DUH" advice, but...

Turn the controller knob to the off position
Wait 5 minutes, and smell around for gas
Turn the controller to the pilot position
Get your match ready
Hold the controller in the down position, and light the flame
COMTINUE to hold the controller knob/button down while you count out 75 seconds and release...

Hope it helps..
g'luck


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