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You know, Dad had to re-light a pilot light on a hot water heater once.
Took six months for his eyebrows to grow back....
So, he wouldn't read the directions clearly printed on the side of the thing, huh? They've basically worked the same ever since the safety valve was mandated way back in, what, the 1930s?
I'd say that if it's old enough not tohave the piezo spark lighter for the pilot, its remaining life is probably minimal. Might be worth just yanking it out of there and replacing it before it tells you its life is completely over by dumping a few hundred gallons of water all over your floors.
(one time, and one time only, I saw a really good WH installation; it was a house with a crawl space. The combustion air was drawn from the crawl space through a sizable hole in the floor of the WH closet (screened, of course). So when our WH started dumping water, it just ran under the house. No damage to flooring at all. I heard the characteristic noise, opened the closet door, saw water pouring out of the thing down the hole, cut off the gas and the water. Piece of cake.)
So, he wouldn't read the directions clearly printed on the side of the thing, huh? They've basically worked the same ever since the safety valve was mandated way back in, what, the 1930s?
Hey, never said Dad was mechanically inclined...he probably didn't even know that there were printed instructions on the side of the thing.
I have some pics to illustrate. First, the button is not a spark striker. Second, I’d you look from the tiny door, the pilot light and thermo couple is BEHIND the plate on the opposite. How is the user supposed to see where to light the fire!? Hope someone can educate me. I used an endoscope to get behind the plate and looked from the top and the side. Where am I supposed to put the flame to light the pilot? Finally, can I replace the lighting mechanism without replacing the whole tank?
I have a boiler that is giving me problem. The pilot would not light up. In attempting to light it with a long-neck lighter, I noticed that this boiler does not have a button to strike a spark. Is this type of boiler too old to use?
I can't even see where my lighting tip should be pointing at, because the hole is all the way on the dirty floor, and it's like a black hole inside the gate.....
I vote for replacement of the unit by a professional, but from the original poster's history I'm going to guess that he's looking for a more thrifty solution than dropping more than a thousand dollars on a new water heater.
If you follow the YouTube instructions in post#3, While holding in the Pilot button, you want your lighter flame to contact the end of the tube with the opening, next to the thermocouple.
If holding the button, and no gas comes out of the pilot light tip, then you have a bigger problem.
If the pilot does light, but goes out after holding the button the required time, then you have a bad thermocouple. That's its job, to detect if the pilot has gone out for any reason, and stop any gas flow..
I mean...YES!!! I respect DIY but hacky attempts at it aren't recommended when dealing with natural gas.
Yes I typically don’t deal with water and gas because of the risk and special skills needed. But due to the remote location of this house and the hassle to get out there I have to ensure it’s not something minor that I could’ve done myself.
In this case the issue seems to be that I can’t see the pilot opening from the door, because it’s behind the metal plate. When the pilot button does not stay down, I don’t know if it’s because I have not pointed the lighter at the right place or the thermo couple is bad, or something else.
No one else feels this is a questionable design?
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