My water heater is 13 years old and lately I have been losing the pilot light. Checked through the number of similar problems on this site but I think this problem could be something other than the thermocouple or the pilot burner.
The pilot flame when lit is a good 20 mm long and blue so does that rule out issues with the pilot light flame? Once the pilot light is lit it stays on for anything from 1/2 hour to 48 hours. I have spent a week monitoring it's performance and there is a pattern. After the main burner has fired up and the boiler reached temperature the pilot light remains lit but only for 1/2 hour - leave it for 1/2 hour relight and it will stay relit. I turned down the stat down to zero and left it for 2 days and the pilot remained lit. Turned on the main burner and 1/2 hour after it had shut the pilot light went out. So does that rule out thermocouple problems or does the thermocouple degenerate with the extra heat from the main burner?
No physical changes to the boiler or flue etc so could there be a flue problem?
Any help would be greatly appreciated
Brian
The pilot flame when lit is a good 20 mm long and blue so does that rule out issues with the pilot light flame? Once the pilot light is lit it stays on for anything from 1/2 hour to 48 hours. I have spent a week monitoring it's performance and there is a pattern. After the main burner has fired up and the boiler reached temperature the pilot light remains lit but only for 1/2 hour - leave it for 1/2 hour relight and it will stay relit. I turned down the stat down to zero and left it for 2 days and the pilot remained lit. Turned on the main burner and 1/2 hour after it had shut the pilot light went out. So does that rule out thermocouple problems or does the thermocouple degenerate with the extra heat from the main burner?
No physical changes to the boiler or flue etc so could there be a flue problem?
Any help would be greatly appreciated
Brian
