new water heater wont ignite.....

[scale]

I just installed a new water heater. It is a kenmore power miser

12...so it isnt a cheap one. I bought it from sears yesterday and spent the better part of last night and this morning hooking it up. Everything went well. I filled it and hooked up my gas lines. I try to iginte the pilot and it wont light. I thought there must be air in the lines but my home furnace (which sits right next to the water heater), kitchen stove, dryer all work fine. I have a union right near where the gas goes into the water heater with a shut off just above it. I loosened this a bit and turned the gas on and the gas is flowing because i could smell it. I tightend the union back down and still no go. I turn the knob to piolt and hit the igniter like crazy and nothing. I cant tell if gas is getting through to the burner because i dont smell any gas. I cant really tell if the igniter is sparking either but i would assume so. THis thing is brand new.

I didnt purchase the installation from sears because they wanted 340 bucks to install it on top of the 415 bucks i just dropped on the water heater. Installation was pretty easy. Everything is already sweated in place and the damn thing is full of water. I dont want to try and get this thing back up the stairs etc to return it.

Any ideas? If i have a bad regulator or somthing sears should come out and check that out correct? I dont want them to say since i installed it that they wont cover there junk or charge me tons of money to fix whatever might be wrong. IM thinking it has to be a faulty part somewhere.

I thought the tough part would be the soldering and the gas etc.....not starting the damn thing.

any ideas? Looks like cold showers for a while.

[Rastus]

Is the pilot knob the type you have to push in and hold for a minute or so while igniting it?

[SQLit]

I had the same problem when I changed my water heater out recently. My problem WAS air in the gas line. My water heater is not near a source of ignition so I loosened the flex hose next to the regulator until I could smell gas. Scared the whole time. Then I vented the area, paranoid. Then I held the pilot button down (read the directions closely) and kept pressing the ignition button. With in 30 seconds I had a pilot light. This was after a dozen or so failed attempts.

I had considered a long match. Construction on my water heater almost prohibits such an action. Guess the manufactures are getting smarter or we the public are getting dumber.

[scale]

This just in....

I got it. I bled the lines again and while i was on hold with sears service.......the pilot lit :) It must have gotten scared and thought i was going to return it to the warehouse.

Strange but i used the same technique each time....turn to pilot....hold down...hit igniter and she lit.....

shes heating for the first time now.

Heck i might even get a warm shower before work tomorrow :)

Thanks for the replies...