Water heater pilot strangeness

[TURTLE]

this is turtle.

tony said it all with the thermocouple or a dirty pilot light.

TURTLE

[Dorothy]

Hi all,

Our water heater has started behaving strangely. The steps are such:

1 - There's no hot water. 2 - I light the pilot again and the burner comes on. 3 - After some length of time - it could be as little as two minutes or as long as several hours - the flame goes out. When I sit out there and monitor it, I hear a soft "clunk" sound when the burner and pilot go out at the same time.

What could cause this? The gas company says it's not air in the line - and that's the extent of their service side of the business.

Thanks!

Dot

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, Pilot flame size or thermocouple. Make sure all the fittings are tight. Most of time there is a provision for adjusting pilot flame size on the main valve. If thermocouple is bad, you can replace it easy. That sound may be from main valve dropping out. Tony