Pilot keeps going out

[NavySuit]

Rheem

The water heater is a little over a year old. The pilot light went out on it last May. I relit it and it worked fine until two weeks ago. It took another two weeks before it went out again.

The pilot flame looks good. I cleaned the thermocouple. What are your thoughts? It is an intermittent issue. I cycled it off and on (manually) and it worked fine.

 

[DonL]

The pilot flame looks good. I cleaned the thermocouple. What are your thoughts? It is an intermittent issue. I cycled it off and on (manually) and it worked fine.

The position of the thermocouple in the flame could be off a bit.

A draft can cause problems also.

Good Luck.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[NavySuit]

Rheem: XG40T09HE40u0
Honeywell Gas Valve: WV8840C1604


I pulled the burner assembly and cleaned the thermocouple. I don't think it was dirty enough to cause the issue. I was getting. .73V on it. The valve doesn't have a normal thermocouple with a copper tube going into the valve. It has two wires that plug into the gas valve. Does anyone have any suggestions? The water heater has a sealed front burner assembly with little inspection window. The combustion air seems to be drawn through the side and then underneath. Does anyone have any thoughts?

 

[Jadnashua]

Get a vacuum or a compressor and suck or blow any lint or dust out of the air inlet. That may or may not help, but it's fairly common for obstructed air intake to give similar problems.

 

[NavySuit]

Well, it lasted until now before the pilot went out again. It has gone out two times in the last two weeks. It has been almost two years since I originally posted. Do you have any new thoughts? It seems like cleaning it may have helped. I'm not sure. Based on my previous post, it seems like it was getting 730 millivolts.

 

[Dj2]

Call Rheem, your WH could still be under warranty. They might send you replacement parts.

BTW, if the thermocouple is installed off by a little bit, the pilot flame can go out.

 

[Master Plumber Mark]

It is not a thermocoupling... that is a thermopile you are fooling with
for a honeywell control.... they should send you a new thermopile if
you talk nicely to them... If the thermopile does not fix the problem then
you are probably gonna need a new honeywell control.......

 

[NavySuit]

It is not a thermocoupling... that is a thermopile you are fooling with
for a honeywell control.... they should send you a new thermopile if
you talk nicely to them... If the thermopile does not fix the problem then
you are probably gonna need a new honeywell control.......

Yeah, I called them earlier today. At first they were saying it was an outside factor, they were saying it was either make up air, draft, gas pressure, etc.. I told them that I cleaned it a year ago and didn't have any issues. They then offered to send me a new pilot assembly which includes the thermopile.

Unfortunately, I did not have my manometer. I was getting a reading of 650mv from the thermopile with no load. I cycled the water heater on and off and also turned the furnace on with the hot water heater on and then with just the pilot. I did not see any fluctuations in the flames.

I did notice a slight flicker of the pilot when the burner is turned off. I'm not certain if that is normal.

 

[DonL]

I did notice a slight flicker of the pilot when the burner is turned off. I'm not certain if that is normal.

I would think not. Depends on what slight flicker is. It could be draft.

 

[Jadnashua]

Next time it goes out...make note of both the wind velocity outside, and what direction is coming from. That may or may not give you a clue.