I have a natural gas hot water heater. I replaced the thermocouple because the pilot light wouldn't stay lit. Now the pilot light only stays on for 3-5 hours at a time. Pilot lights easily and the burner and pilot burn blue once lit. Why does it keep going out?
Probably a bad solenoid in the gas valve. Higher voltage of a new thermocouple keeps it open longer but it still fails over a period of time. Look into a new gas valve for the water heater.
Twice you mention 'lighting' the main burner...What are you doing, turning up the temperature setting on the valve? I am not certain but I still go back to the gas valve for one simple reason. At some point no matter what you are doing, the burners go out and you lose the pilot. While there are safety switches that could trip due to things like rust in the burners, none of these should cause the pilot to go out. The pilot ges out due to only a couple of things: Bad thermocouple; poor gas pressure; bad valve. Yes you should be able to replace the valve only, the question will be based upon the cost of the thermocouple and the valve (It will be pricey) would it be better to replace the whole thing. Bear in mind that a 'typical' hot water heater will last ~10 years.
Yes...it has the gas line coming into the water heater and then allows gas to flow to the burner when required. As it fails it will go out intermittently. Your decission would seem to be between the cost of a replacement valve on top of what you already spent on a 6, now 7 year old heater versus the cost of a new unit with anoth ~6 year warranty.
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Need to no about how much a gas valve fof a 2007 GE Smart Water hot water heater is!
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Can I purchase just the valve? I still don't have this fixed and have to relight it 2-3x a day. here's what happened yesterday:
After a couple of suggestons, I reached inside the bottom of the tank and knocked on the large burner to possibly loosen up and rust ?? that might be blocking the burner. Then I lit the pilot and burner and both had a blue flame. Burner kicks on when I turn the dial from 'vacation' setting to 'hot'. Both turn on with nice blue flames. I ran the dishwasher to use hot water. Burner continued for 30-45 minutes and then went out. Pilot light stayed on with blue flame. The burner never kicked back on after the dishwasher used all the hot water. Last night I lit the burner so I would have hot water in the morning. It lit fine. I had hot water this morning but the pilot and burners were both out. No drafts for the last week while allof this is happening. It all started when we had cold water and wouldn't stay lit so I replaced the thermocouple. Appears to be setting in the right spot as it lights the burner when I manually do it. What I don't know is how long the pilot continues to stay lit after the burner goes out before it too eventually goes out. This is starting to become a hassle. This is a 7 year old natural gas hot water heater. Help!
Help me out here. Is the 'valve' located inside the metal-looking box with the red temperature dial on it? Are you suggesting replacing that entire 'box' or the entire hot water heater. It just turned 7 years old....of course it carried a 6 year warranty. just my luck.
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