I recently put a 10-20K btu in my family room. Overall I am happy with it but occasionally it will lose its pilot. It makes a sputtering noise when the burner is on and the noise comes from the pilot. It is like a bunsun burner that has too much air. I looked at the pilot and do not see any choke mechanism at all. I have emailed the manu. with no result. I have tried to phone them and it is always busy. Anyone have any suggestions as the the problem and cure? Thanks, RW
This is a long shot, but I wonder if there could be some moisture in the line. Did you put a drip leg in the line just before the heater? Anyway, disconnect the gas line and blow it out. I think I would disconnect the pilot burner and blow it out with compressed air too. (Don't blow compressed air thru the gas control!)
Over the years I ran across this in my garage heater, and my (and me) neighbors in their home furnaces.
The pilot flame had a "roaring, spitting" sound, and a downdraft would occassionally blow the pilot out
Looking at it carefully, they had the pilot flame just roaring away, just touching the thermocouple. Just barely keeping it warm. Along would come a downdraft or gust of wind, and blow the pilot flame sideways (or down) a bit, and cool off the thermocouple. Immediately, the whole thing would shut down.
The pilot flame was blowing outward so darn hard, it was barely enveloping the thermocouple, and almost blowing itself out. The raw gas was enveloping the theromcouple (mainly), and the (warming) flame was almost (past) the thermocouple.
What we did on about 5 furnaces, was to unscrew off the small protective adjustment (cap) on the gas valve, use a small screwdriver, and adjust the standing pilot size, where it was a nice, soft flame, enveloping the thermocouple, and there will be no roaring sound anymore. Then we replaced the protective cap.
Now gusts of wind do not allow the "wide, soft" flame to blow away from the thermocouple.
These were done about 1970 or 1980, and haven't had a problem since.
If you don't know how to do this, then definitely have someone do it, who is qualified! It's not rocket science, just that (I'm) very, very careful with Gas, especially if I will be sleeping around it.
Sounds like the ODS is dirty. The ODS is where the pilot flame comes out. Take a can of compressed air like what is used to clean computers and blow out the ODS. Blow it first from the two small holes in the sides toward the back. Then back down where the pilot flame comes out.
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