This week my 7 year old water heater turned off 3 times and it has become incredibly hard to reignite the pilot light.
Here are the observations:
- When I press the red "RESET" button, I hear consistent hissing sound. Which probably means that gas to ignite pilot is getting there.
- When I press the "IGNITE" button I see the spark. But 99% of the time the spark does not ignite gas.
- May be a coincidence, but if pilot does light up and if I release the red RESET button too soon, the pilot light simply goes off. If I keep the red button pressed the pilot light keeps burning.
- Another observation that may be a coincidence is that if pilot lit up and went out (as described in #3 when I release red button too soon), then I usually have to wait 1 hour or so before pilot ignites again.
Since ignition spark and gas appear to be there, then does this mean that lack of oxygen is preventing pilot from lighting up? Or could this still be something else? At one point I saw the burner light become orange, but it changed color back to blue.
Best Answer
It could be that the pilot orifice is partially obstructed. There are cleaning wires which can be inserted into the orifice to clear it. These are available at stores which service gas lights. To reach the orifice you might have to hold the wire with a pair of needle nose pliers or needle nose locking pliers.
Many camping stoves are supplied with a cleaner wire mounted on a light stamped steel handle.