Water heater prob, pilot won't stay lit & heater won't fire.

[johnboy]

The controller on my hot water heater (1986 28 ft sovereign) has been messed up ever since we bought it. Knob was really hard to turn and eventually it just fell apart.

So I replaced with a new one. Now, when I hold the pilot light on, the pilot burns the size I'd expect. Instructions say to hold for a minute or until pilot stays lit. I've held it for several minutes but the second I let it go, the flame shrinks and it goes out.

Furthermore, Just to see if there would be any more problems, I held a lighter under the thermocouple to see if the wh would fire and it won't. The pilot light is pretty rusty and crusty. I'm thinking that it and the tc need to be replaced. Unit is 20 years old.

I'm going to the rv place tomorrow to replace but if anyone has a fix instead, I'd appreciate the advice.

cheers
jb

[Chuck]

a new thermocouple is a cheap part to replace, and by the symptoms you describe, it sounds like that is the likely culprit.