ARGHHH!!! Water Heater NOT WORKING!!!

Alight... been in my house for a few years now and I must say that everything seems to fail right after it is out of warranty. I came home last summer to a hot house with the central air fan blowing... just ambient air; I checked the condenser outside and the motor was seized up. I found a local HVAC supply store and bought a new motor and solenoid... 30 minutes fix. Cool, much better than $500 to have someone come out and do it in two days (the company that installed the system in my home)...

This morning, I am abruptly waken by my wife asking me to check the water heater... she only has cold water. I go check it... sure enough, it's cold. I turned on everything off on it and then turned on my furnace to make sure my $90 credit (accidentally overpaid gas bill) was mistaken for being late... furnace kicked on and there was warm air, check. I tried using the pilot... I get a spark, but no flame.

I found a thread out there on DSL reports (Water heater pilot light won't light - Home Improvement | DSLReports Forums (Page 2)) that seemed promising; it turns out the guy has a similar unit as we share the same service manual. It appears that it may be the Thermo Couple. Before I go that route, however, I want make sure that all of the opening are cleaned out.

Anyone have a better site that gives more details about this stuff? I don't have a problem doing it myself, I just want to make sure I am double and triple checking things as I go along.

From what I had found, a Thermo Couple will be able $10. I was looking for an excuse to stay home today, anyhow (much more productive from home).

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Comments

powerfool

This is ridiculous. So, I pull off the inner-cover and I am looking inside just to see how dirty it is. While I am there, I notice that outside and under the lower intake vents there are a bunch of walnuts and they are essentially petrified. I pull out the vacuum cleaner and get busy. The thermocouple is pretty difficult to get out because you have to be firm, but you don't want to bend anything else (the pilot/igniter assembly). So, first thing is first... clean the pilot supply, and then install a new thermocouple, just for good measure... it is more likely an issue with the pilot supply being clogged.

powerfool

Well, easy enough fix. After removing the thermocouple, I cleaned out the pilot supply with a razor blade. The thermocouple looked like it had been corroded or burned down a bit, so a new one was purchased for $8.55 w/ tax and installed. Fired right up. Nice. Waiting on hot water, and then shower. Fun stuff... when they are inexpensive like that, it is almost fun.

advanex1

Good fix Power. Makes me want to do everything myself, heh.

Monkerz

People call me stubborn and cheap, but like you I can usually fix household issue at 1/10 the price. Takes a little time and patients, but usually come out ahead.

Good Job

cyberguypr

Nice play by play. I know who I'm calling when mine breaks down.

demonfurbie

find the patch panel and plug in your roll over cable, you should be able to troubleshoot it

or you could use a fireplace match

cyberguypr

Monkerz wrote: »

People call me stubborn and cheap, but like you I can usually fix household issue at 1/10 the price. Takes a little time and patients, but usually come out ahead.

Good Job

I hear you. I recently finished laying tile in the whole first floor of my house. Saved a ton of money and looks ridiculously excellent even though it was my first time. Also installed a glass tile backsplash. My wife calls me the tilemaster now.

I only pay for stuff I have no interest in, like plumbing.

Devilsbane

powerfool wrote: »

While I am there, I notice that outside and under the lower intake vents there are a bunch of walnuts and they are essentially petrified.

Sounds like my Grandpa's old car. He didn't exactly do regular maintnance on it, so while we were visiting we took his car in for an oil change since he was like 10,000 miles over. During their inspection, they found acorns in his air filter. Clogged the guys industrial shop vac 3 or 4 times and resulted in 3/4 a gallon of acorns. Were some very PO'd squirrels that winter I bet.

Nice job on the fix.

Devilry

PM me your number, the next time it goes out, i'm calling you.

haha jk!

Good fix.

Everyone

Nice work. I'm enjoying living in a newer house (built in 2007) now. Haven't had to do anything like that yet, and hope I have several more years of not having to. I used to live in a house that was built in 1959. It didn't have a single grounded outlet when I moved in... all just 2 prong outlets. I fixed all the electrical up myself, and ran some coax to a few rooms too for cable. I tried to fix some plumbing issues myself, but that didn't work out too well. I ended up paying a plumber quite a bit on more than one occasion. I sure don't miss that.

JDMurray

I basically had the same problem, but with my gas pool heater. I had a pool guy fix it because I knew the result would be better than if I tried doing it myself.