Re: [VAL] Heater

["Mark" <mark@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

A couple of other things about the thermocouple...it must be in direct contact
with the flame, and it's surface needs to be clean.  Sometimes stuff cakes
onto it's surface and insulates the bulb, keeping it from doing it's job
effectively.  If yours is dirty, you might fix it by removing it, carefully
brushing it clean, and remounting it right in the pilot flame.

Were it my problem, I'd get in there with a propane torch, heat the
thermocouple directly, and see if the pilot then stays lit.  Turn the
controller to 'on', and the main burner should light right up.  If the pilot
stays lit, but the burner doesn't come on, I'd give the regulator a coupla
light whacks...sometimes they'll stick, if they haven't been used for a
while.

If, after heating the thermocouple, the button stays down, but the pilot
doesn't stay lit, or the flame is wimpy, I'd suspect the little pipe which
feeds the pilot, or the orifice in the pilot light itself.  Bugs and spiders
seem to get high on Propane, and the tiniest bit of web, or dead bug parts,
can occlude the pilot light at the tip of the orifice.

Also, as Bobby mentioned, the flu could be restricted, often by yellowjacket
or mud dauber nests.  I dumped enough dried mud out of my furnace exhaust to
have fixed the levee in New Orleans, with enough left over to help secure
those in the California Delta.


Hope that helps,

Mark in Modesto
'62 TradeWind
'78 Revcon