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A water heater pilot light may be the little blue flame at the bottom of the heater that lights the burner when your water heater must heat water. The heater won’t heat water if the pilot goes out and it will must be relit.

Within an older heater (prior to 2002) you are able to relight the pilot with a match or lighter. Water heaters have changed in recent years to adhere to new laws to prevent fires and explosions.
heater not turning on behind the new regulations is basically because residents that don’t have basements in their homes will often have their heater situated in the garage. That creates a problem when a heater with an open flame is situated near lawn equipment and cans of gasoline. The area at the bottom of the heater is now completely enclosed and the only path to relight the pilot has been a igniter that is located on the gas valve.

There are a few causes of a pilot light going out. The first cause can be a thermocouple failing. Very to put it simply the thermocouple sends the message to the burner that the pilot is lit. If the thermocouple fails the burner won’t light and the pilot will venture out. In an old hot water heater (prior to 2002) you are able to replace the thermocouple and hopefully be back in business.

The next issue you need to consider is the oxygen intake. When you have a traditionally vented heater (i.e. a heater that is gravity vented by way of a chimney at home) it is possible that a down draft is occurring due to the oxygen intake being plugged. If the new air intake vents at the bottom of the heater are plugged with debris the heater may pull its fresh air through the chimney vent. This might cause the pilot flame to be extinguished. To resolve this issue you must clean your air intake vents at the base of the heater and relight the pilot.

Because of these new restrictions water heater manufacturers had to come up with new ways of getting oxygen to the flame without allowing the possibility of having a fire start or having an explosion. This created issues with pilot lights not staying lit. Most manufactures involve some kind of venting that is located in the bottom of the heater. This venting may become plugged with debris and not allow combustion air to be taken directly into keep a flame lit.

Adding to the thing is debris that may get sucked into the heater itself. Water heaters used to have combustion air to arrive from all sides. This design allowed for a more than adequate air supply to enter the heater keeping the flame and burner lit. With the brand new heaters how big is the air ports for fresh combustion air to enter the heater have restricted the air supply. The volume of air needed may be the same however the size of the hole that the air has to enter has been choked down causing vacuum pressure effect. This causes debris to enter into the heater itself and plug screen that’s located in the heater that has been added as a safety shield to prevent any flames from escaping the heater. If this occurs it’s possible, although difficult, to blow out the debris.