How to Relight a Water Heater Pilot Light
Anyone with a gas water heater has experienced a pilot light outage. Although it seems to happen at the most inopportune times, it’s really due to the fact that you don’t notice a lack of hot water until you need it. Relighting the pilot is a straight-forward task that can be done in a few minutes.
First you need to access the water heater. Look down at the burner area to see if the pilot light is truly out. Locate the box on the front that contains the thermostatic control valve. Turn the knob to the position marked “off”. Wait 5 to 10 minutes before proceeding.
Turn the gas valve to the “pilot” position and press down on the knob or, a little red button located next to it, which will get gas moving through the line. Use a long handled grill lighter to ignite the gas at the end of the gas line. Keep holding for an additional minute and then release. The pilot should stay lit, but repeat the process if it goes out.
Once the pilot stays lit, turn the knob to the “on” position. The burner should ignite immediately if the water heater has been off for awhile. The burner will not ignite until the temperature of the water in the tank falls below the thermostat setting.
If you are unable to light or keep the pilot lit then you will need to contact the gas company or a service repairman. It could be a problem with the gas line or corrosion of parts. Professionals should handle these types of repairs.
Comments
the information you provided is helpful for all the millions of water heaters that were made prior to 2003.the newer gas water heaters FVIR series are completely different and most people do not know about the change.the most important change is that all FVIR water heaters need preventive maintance.keeping the flame arrestor clean is very important.if the flame arrestor gets dirty the thermo cut out will prevent the pilot light to work.the flame arrestor is located under the water heater.it is the only place were air can enter the burner chamber.cleaning the flame arrestor requires a water heater vacuum brush. clean the flame arrestor twice a year.it requires no other tools
stewart wrozier
June 5th, 2010