Pilot Light Keeps Going Out

When this becomes an emergency

• The pilot lights fine, holds for a few seconds, then drops out once you release the knob.
• The little flame is lazy and yellow-tipped instead of tight and blue.
• Black soot has collected around the pilot hood or the burner face.
• There is a sulfur smell near the unit. Leave the house and call from outside if you smell gas.

What a pro does

The pilot is almost never the actual problem. What holds the gas valve open is a thermocouple or thermopile sitting in the flame, generating a tiny voltage that says a fire is present. When that sensor corrodes, drifts out of the hottest part of the flame, or simply wears out, the valve closes within seconds of you letting go. A tech doesn't guess at it and measures the output instead, and also looks at whether the pilot orifice is partly plugged, which starves the flame and leaves it too cool and too soft to prove anything. Draft's the other half of the story. Basements in older frame houses around here can pull hard on a cold windy night, and a chimney with a partial blockage or a house pulling air through a bath fan will lift a pilot right off its hood. Shut the gas valve at the unit if you smell anything.

Frequently asked questions

Pilot Light Keeps Going Out?

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