Water Heater Problem

It is possible that some crud has fallen into the pilot light, deflecting the flame so the thermocouple isn't being heated properly. When the burner kicks in, there will be a slight pressure drop decreasing the pilot light slightly and further reducing the temperature of the thermocouple possibly enough to shut the unit down.

You should be able to determine a possible cause by observing what occurs once you relight the pilot. Is it stable? Does the problem occur when the unit fires up? Possible causes are the pilot light itself, the thermocouple, contaminated natural gas a clog in the controller to name a few.
 
woodchucker said:
I know, when I moved in my water heater failed in a year or 2. Electric, I could not get all the water out, the sediment blocked the drain, and there was probably 70- 80 lbs or maybe more of sediment in there.

That's why I drain it regularly. If I have to do it again, I want to make sure I'm not dragging that much weight up the stairs.
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I made a scoop out of 3/8" aluminum rod with a spoon forged on the end. to clean the bottom of the tank by pulling the drain valve. I still use that scoop each summer to pull raspberry bushes into reach. lol.
 
Newer units...20 years or so...there I a sensor near the bottom that trips if ambient area gets too hot.

Added safety device.

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A water heater lifespan averages about 15 years. Guess what time it is for your heater………….. My company replaces 50-100 water heaters a year, at 15 years mine came out and it was working fine.
 
Dhal22 said:
A water heater lifespan averages about 15 years. Guess what time it is for your heater………….. My company replaces 50-100 water heaters a year, at 15 years mine came out and it was working fine.
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I have a problem replacing items that are still functional just "because". We live in a disposable world and far too many things end up in landfills. Even if an item gets recycled, it still takes energy to replace it and energy use means adding to the CO2 load.

Our 80 gallon electric water heater has thermal blanket to increase efficiency, it doesn't leak, and it is still providing hot water on demand. Why would I want to replace it? A hybrid electric would be more efficient but in our limited remaining years, it is doubtful the we would see the payback in terms of either cost or net cradle to grave energy usage.
 
When we switched to 100% rainwater, I changed out the tank water heaters for Flash heaters, Kitchen and laundry room are on an LP flash heater and the bathrooms (2x showers) are on an electric flash heater. With the rainwater, I don't have to worry about lime scale build up in the heaters. My old tank heaters would last 5-7 years.
 
Stupid question time: why do water heaters have pilot lights? Haven't they moved to electronic spark technology?

To further the drift, I replaced my 12-year-old water heater with a low mileage used unit a friend gave me a couple of years ago. They say you should change the anode rod every few years, but that thing was stuck fast. Any tricks to getting it out?

I'm in California, and they outlawed gas water heaters starting 2030, or earlier in certain local areas. If I'm still here then, I'll be buying a spare unit before the end comes. I did that at the end of last year with gas powered lawn equipment.
 
Consider the age of that water heater. I know it works, but from 2009? Nobody was building heirloom quality appliances at that time.
You mentioned it's outdoors. How "outdoors" is it? Does that mean no floods in the house if it fails? No fires in the house if it fails? No gas in the house if it fails? Those questions should be answered as you make decisions on how far to go with it. I don't like throwing out working stuff, but there has to be some practicality, and some "big picture" in that consideration. Trying to make products last as long as they can is a very good thing, and a good decision. But when they're designed to a finite life span, sometimes you've got to call it even though it "could" be fixed.

Pilot lights are such a small oriface, they're VERY prone to getting gunked up, depending on the gas source and the pipework. Even if your gas is piped in. Things change. You could be getting a little extra shmoo from a pipeline project 500 miles away, fifteen years ago. Don't rule it out.

Thermocouples have a finite life span, they "drift" out of calibration. A truly failed one can fail in a lot of ways, not unheard of is to fail when they're quite hot, but seem OK on the workbench

Or just blowing out? Those little "sight windows" do get a little crusty with time, but if you really can't see through it it all, they're not "that" bad in my experience. You mentioned wind and weather not seeing extremes, but where/how does it get it's air. Has anything changed lately? Exhaust gasses swirling inside there from a "funny" draft will absolutely wreck one of those windows in no time flat. Not melted or anything (the safeties will shut it down before that, or the whole arrangement burns down), but it dries them up like they'd been sitting out in the sun for 30 years. Has anything changed? Vent covers/screens where the air comes in? New buildings on the property within a few hundred feet, things stored near it that weren't before? Things moved away from it? Changes to the (roof jack?) or however you've plumbed the exhaust out? Anything that could change how the air hits it?
 
what Jake says is true, yesterday I changed my air filter and found a mouse nest in the box and it fully chocked off the air. There was so much crap in there. you never know. Have you vacuumed the box out? Cleaned the burner grid? Maybe some rust blocking a nice blue flame.
 
RJSakowski said:
I have a problem replacing items that are still functional just "because". We live in a disposable world and far too many things end up in landfills. Even if an item gets recycled, it still takes energy to replace it and energy use means adding to the CO2 load.

Our 80 gallon electric water heater has thermal blanket to increase efficiency, it doesn't leak, and it is still providing hot water on demand. Why would I want to replace it? A hybrid electric would be more efficient but in our limited remaining years, it is doubtful the we would see the payback in terms of either cost or net cradle to grave energy usage.
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It’s not ‘just because’. Ask many of my customers about not listening to me when I recommended replacing the water heater and how they enjoyed their flooded basement or house. Insurance claims, and misery, lots of them.
 
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