Old Atwood will not stay lit

[muck]

We have an old (1987) Atwood in our 73 TradWind. I replaced the pilot assembly and burner tube. The pilot lights and stays lit but as soon as I start to turn the blue knob to On, the pilot goes out. Pilot is directly under thermocouple and the flame is touching the end. What can I do to troubleshoot? When I screwed the thermocouple into the valve it was very hard to turn, like the threads may have been crossed but I was able to get it in most of the way. Could that be the problem? Any help is appreciated. Best, Brian

[bweybright]

So I had similar burner problems on my heater....a bit newer but still very similar design I am guessing. Replaced burner, controller and all just like you did from the shiny new parts I see. Then one day when my wife was napping and I had one she didn't know about I started poking and prodding all the parts I could move. Btw bamboo bbq skewers are great for poking into the burn chamber when not lit....I slid the air vent pipe hard to one side (left) out of frustration and suddenly my furnace burned nice. Looking at your picture you may have too much air coming into the tube.
My message is that I often try to go gentle when working on the trailer and in this case two beers of frustration to shove the air element fixed the problem.
And play around with the air input tube a lot if it is new. Compared to where mine sits you are getting too much air into the burner.
Good luck.

[muck]

Thanks so much for the quick reply. I noticed that too and will see if I can close it a little. However, the pilot goes out as soon as I ‘start’ to turn the dial. I don’t even move it a millimeter and the pilot goes out. I will keep poking around with it tomorrow and see what happens. Thanks again. Brian

[rmkrum]

The thermocouple is electrical in nature. It generates a few millivolts and a little current to power a solenoid coil that holds a magnet to keep the gas on when you turn the knob to ‘run’.

What you described sounds like the thermocouple is not making good enough contact with the gas valve contacts.

It should not be super hard to screw it in, and it should bottom out easily. If it’s not making solid connections, what you described will happen for sure. Try to get it properly screwed together is all I can suggest. If it’s cross-threaded it will not get a good connection before it becomes impossible to turn.

[muck]

It worked! I needed vice grips to get the thermocouple cranked all the way in, but she fired right up! Thanks for all your help!!! Brian