How To Fix a Low or Weak Pilot Light
153,790
Published 2018-11-12
Hello everybody it's handyman Bruce and I am here at a rental house today. Got a water heater that's out. The pilot won't stay lit. The pilot's really low they're telling me so let's check it out and see what we can figure out.
All right so there's the burner assembly and the pilot. Let's see if we could light this thing here. There we go. So you can see that small pilot right there. The pilot is really low so I'm thinking that's the problem. When I let up on the valve, the pilot goes out, but I don't think it's the thermocouple because what I did is I used my little flame here to heat up the thermocouple and it stayed on so I think the problem is that the pilot's too low to even keep the thermocouple warm so let's see if that's true.
Now is we're gonna undo that little screw in there that holds the pilot assembly onto there. And then we're gonna undo the nut here that holds the gas tube for the pilot into the gas valve. Before we do that, let's go ahead and shut the gas off to be safe.
We're not gonna be able to show this with the camera, but we got a little stubby screwdriver. We're gonna get in here, reach my arm in there, we're gonna unscrew that screw right there. I'll take it out and I'll show it to you.
All right. There's the pilot assembly right there. And the thermocouples still attached. If we need to, we can disconnect the thermocouple out of here to get some more working space but I don't think I'm gonna need it. I'm gonna try cleaning that out there and see if I can blow through this line, put it back in, see if we can get a much stronger pilot.
Okay, we've got the pilot assembly screwed back in there. You can see those two screws there that I attached it with. Oh, I've got this threaded her. Tightened on there. Now let's turn the gas valve back on and let's see what we get here.
Okay, now we're gonna hold down the pilot. Okay, and now let's see what we get, if my theory's right, we're gonna get a much stronger pilot this time. Let's turn the light off again. Oh, yeah. That's much better. In fact, I can even hear it stronger. Sweet. Okay. Let's let that run for a few seconds here.
All right. I released the button. Now let's see if we can get our burner to light. Sure did. That pilot is a lot stronger now. Think we just solved our problem.
So if you're curious what I did. I used just a little bit of brake cleaner on the end, where the pilot light comes out, right at the tip, then I just blew through it with my mouth through that tube so worked pretty well. The way to get that clog out is send it on through. I think we've solved our problem so I hope this helps you guys to know that sometimes repairs are pretty simple and you can avoid that big expense so you do-it-yourselfers, I hope this helps you take care of a problem at your house.
Again, as I've said before, we're all about helping families. We hope this helps your family to stay home more and enjoy your home more. That's why our slogan is bringing your family home. Please subscribe to our channel so you can be notified if we send out more videos. In fact, if there's a logo on the screen, sometimes it moves around on me. I don't know why it does that. But if there's a little logo in the corner, just click on that logo. It'll automatically subscribe you to our channel.
Also, like the video and just comment down below. Say hey this really helped me. I appreciate it. Or man my water heater wasn't anything like this. You might have one of those newer type water heaters that is more energy efficient. Doesn't have an accessible door like that, but maybe you solved the problem a different way. You can leave a comment there that might help somebody so please comment and keep the discussion going. Thanks guys.
All Comments (21)
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I can't express how thankful I am to have come across your video. As the expression goes "when it rains, it pours", this has been the case. So to now have a functioning hot water tank with 7 kids is an absolute blessing. Thank you.
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So happy I found this.! I swapped parts out and nothing worked. Parts cleaner. Genius!! Worked on my Mr heater radiant heater
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Had this same weak pilot light issue where it wouldn't heat up my thermo-couple for a garage space heater. Removed the pilot gas line. Sprayed a little brake cleaner into the business end and let it soak for a minute. Then blew some air through it and it was audibly unclogged after a moment. A spurt of cleaner and gunk came out of the tube and you could hear the air coming through the tube. I re-connected the tube to the space heater and wow. The pilot stays lit and fires up the heater when needed now. My wife can again enjoy the garage for her furniture refinishing hobby. Thank you so much.
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3 years on this upload and still helping people out like myself , thank you ! Good cleaning on the pilot line and it finally stayed on
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You saved me around 1,500$ I had two techs come out and give me a estimates they said it was a valve so I brought one changed it still didn’t work so I cleaned that part out with the parts clearer and my furnace fired right up it was clogged THANK YOU
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Thank-you!! This worked great. I used carb cleaner on the burner end and blew compressed air through the control end. Our basement had flooded and water heater did not work unit I used your fix. We now have hot water! Thank-you again!!
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Nice tip! Im setting up a propane ventless heater to run off of a grill sized bottle of fuel, for when power goes out in the winter. Heater was given to me, but had a weak pilot. Didn't want to stay lit, and if/when it would, wasn't reigniting after first burn. Same symptoms as this video (low pilot flame, thermocouple not warming properly). Took the line and pilot tip out, swabbed the tip with some wire and bore bristle, blew thru the line. Scuffed and cleaned the thermocouple and ignitor with some medium grit sandpaper. Working like a charm now! Thanks!! 🥇
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I'm going to give this a try with my other gas boiler as I replaced the thermo couple prior to watching this and pilot still weak, but I already did it with my furnace and it worked. Thanks for the helpful vid.
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Thanks Bruce for taking your time to make this video. I used your approach on an RV water heater and it worked perfectly.
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This helped me get my water heater going again for the price of some brake cleaner, thanks.
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Thank you Bruce, following your instructions I finally fixed my furnace. Your advice is much appreciated.
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I have a Unitrol valve on an old propane stock tank heater. I need to adjust the pilot. Right now the heater is frozen in 6 inches of ice. It is 8deg with a 12mph North wind. Thanks for the demo..
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I know what a good feeling comes from helping others with your videos. And let me tell you, this has helped me! I never thought a pilot line could clog like that, but I have EXACTLY the same problem with my Aladdin Dovre 400 propane gas heater! It has a separate thermocouple and thermopile. My thermocouple is so eroded from the flame, I had to bend the metal frame it's mounted on to raise it up into the pilot to stay lighted. The thermopile powers the main gas flow valve. I wanted to replace the entire pilot assembly but it's no longer available so I ordered the two elements, even though I probably don't need a new thermopile. I'd rather replace them both and keep the old thermopile as a spare. I tried bumping up the secondary regulator pressure a bit. Adjusted the pilot flame set screw. None of which did hardly anything at all. I can't wait to try cleaning out the pilot line to if that fixes the problem. Will definitely update this post with my results.
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Thanks for this. Your tip about checking the thermocouple was a great help for me in diagnosing my pilot light problem on my gas fireplace. (I had to use a small pin to ream out the orifice hole since pressurized air didn't work well enough. Must have been some corrosion) Everything is working now!
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Thanks man! I’ve got a low pilot on my wall heater. Gonna give this a try!
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Thank you so much! I had a clod pilot light on my kettle corn machine, thank you again!
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I didn't think about Brake and Parts Cleaner Spray or Starter and Carb Cleaner Spray. I put some Rusted Bolt and Nut spray in the tube and blew it out with compressed air, Then, to get that out thoroughly, I filled a 12ml blunt-tip syringe (from a printer ink cartridge refill kit) with Everclear, Pure Grain Alcohol, 190 Proof, then while holding a finger on the orifice hole, I filled the tube and blew it out, and did that two more times. I had adjusted the pilot flame in my AC/Furnace to max and the flame was barely touching the thermocouple, and after cleaning, the flame surrounded the thermocouple and blew 1½ inches past it. So I adjusted the pilot flame so it only goes about a ¼ inch past. It really works! I was amazed. I'll use Starter and Carb Cleaner Spray next time, unless you think Brake and Parts Cleaner Spray is better about loosening the crud. Thoughts, please. Thanks
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I'm going to try it tomorrow. My pilot light looks like the before picture. I'll let you know how it comes out.
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Helped me so much thank you sir
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I can't believe this worked, I didn't have break cleaner so I read in your comments that WD 40 works so I used that. It unclogged my pilot and now it works great. Hope this solves the problem. Thanks
