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Pilot Light Keeps Going Out

A standing pilot that keeps dropping out means a safety device is losing confidence in the flame, so let someone find out why rather than relighting it again.

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When this becomes an emergency

What a pro does

The pilot going out is almost always the ending of the story rather than the start of it. Something upstream is deciding the flame isn't there. A tech measures the millivolt output of the thermocouple or thermopile while the pilot burns, because a device producing a fraction of what it should will hold at first and fail as soon as the gas valve's magnet needs a little more to stay open. Position matters as much as condition. The tip has to sit in the correct part of the flame, and a pilot orifice partly blocked by lint from a nearby dryer or dust off a rough basement floor pulls the flame away from it. Combustion air and draft come next. Older houses that have been tightened up with new windows and fresh insulation sometimes starve the burner or reverse the chimney draft when an exhaust fan runs, and that can blow a pilot out cleanly. Shut the gas valve at the unit if you smell anything.

Frequently asked questions

Cooler temperatures and stronger stack effect change the draft through the flue after dark. A pilot that's already marginal will survive mild conditions and lose the fight when the draft shifts.
In a tightly sealed house, yes. A powerful fan can depressurize the space enough to pull air backward down the chimney, and that reverse flow will snuff a standing pilot.
A crisp blue flame that wraps the sensor tip is what the system expects. Orange, lazy, or lifting flames usually mean a dirty orifice or an air supply problem, and they don't heat the sensor properly.
Plenty of them run reliably for decades once the sensor and orifice are sorted out. The decision usually comes down to the age and condition of the rest of the equipment rather than the pilot itself.

Pilot Light Keeps Going Out?

Get connected with a local pro now.

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