Water heater pilot light

[flyfishrra]

Ok so I know how to light it and the hot water heater works just fine! My question is why does it keep blowing out? So far it seems to be when ever some wind picks up or a storm blows by. Being in Colorado this is usually fairly often. I have the cover closed and only open it to light the darn thing. Any ideas why it goes out? I have plenty of propane as well. Just wondering if there is a trick to keep it from happening. Not much fun when you go to take a shower and find out that the water heater is off. And don't really want to go outside every time to check to make sure its on!

Matt

[idroba]

Pilot light water heaters are notorious for that problem. I have had many over the years and some just blow out all the time, some don't. It is very strange. I do find that a big pilot flame and a good thermocouple help, but are not a universal solution. It is also hard to change the flame size on the pilot light, there is no real adjustment on many of the control valves and the pilot orifice is so tiny it is very difficult to change.

I solved the problem by going to an electronic ignition water heater. It is so nice to be able to turn it on and off from inside the trailer, it never "goes out", and is a real advance in my opinion.

[KYAirstream]

My water heater is about two years old and the pilot has been a problem since day one. The pilot light has repeatedly gone out with no obvious pattern or circumstances. One thing that dawned on me when lighting it yesterday, however, was that there is often a delay between the gas releasing and the burner igniting. Consequently, there would be a small burst of flame when the burner ignited. So yesterday I bent the pilot tube so the flame continues to contact the thermocouple, but the remainder of the flame is closer to the burner tube. Now, when the burner ignites, it does so with virtually no delay at all. I've only had it set like this for a single day, but so far no more occurrences of the pilot going out. My thinking is that the little burst of propane igniting may have essentially blown the pilot out on some occasions.