Pilot light won't stay lit

[abridges01]

The Dometic in our '76 Argosy MH appears to work fine on AC, but I cannot get the pilot light to stay lit. As long as I hold the knob out in the lighting position, I can see the pilot is lit with a nice blue flame, but as soon as I release the know, the pilot light extinguishes.

The stove and oven work fine so I am confident the propane is fine. I removed and cleaned (a very rusty/dirty) baffle and did my best to clean the flu, but no change.

Any suggestions? Anything... please We are off out next week and a cold propane driven fridge is essential... see dear, I told them just like you said

Cheers,

Andrew

[eubank]

It may be the thermocouple. We had a guest here in a Casita with the same symtom. We got a new thermocouple, installed it (10 minute easy job), and all was great.

By the way, we also discovered that there were two differences between the residential and the RV termocouples:

1. The residential was longer. It could have been coiled and used in the RV.

2. The RV thermocouple was about twice as expensive and available only at the RV outfit; we could have bought the residential at the corner hardware store.


Lynn

[Becky B.]

I had the same thing in my '76 Overlander. I changed the thermocouple and still had the same thing going on. Andy at Inland said to tighten it "really tight". After I did that, it stayed lit. I had to order the thermocouple from an RV store here because the end on the one from the local hardware store didn't fit the connection properly.

[steelbird312]

Andrew, It probably IS the thermocouple. This "tells" the gas valve to stay open because there is a fire where it needs to be. They do sometimes go bad. They also sometimes will have corrosion buildup where they are connected, and they sometimes get hit, and knocked out of the flame, preventing it from getting hot and giving the message to the valve. Look at it while holding the button, and ensure it is in the flame. If that isn't it, then remove it and clean anything that attaches to something else. If that doesn't do it, get the one at the hardware and see if it will fit. If all that fails, buy the high priced one!

[Fyrzowt]

Originally Posted by beckybillrae

I had the same thing in my '76 Overlander. I changed the thermocouple and still had the same thing going on. Andy at Inland said to tighten it "really tight". After I did that, it stayed lit. I had to order the thermocouple from an RV store here because the end on the one from the local hardware store didn't fit the connection properly.

Make sure the connections are tight prior to buying another. Think of it as an electrical connection.

[abridges01]

Thanks everyone, tightening the thermocouple, plus fifteen tear downs and reassemblies appear to have done the trick.

I cannot stress how good it feels to know that such sound advice and knowledge is so easy to hand, I thank you all.

Cheers,

Andrew