GE Water Heater Pilot Light Won’t Stay Lit

Submitted by littlerobertanthony t3_12830pi in DIY

Hi folks, I’ve been trying to get my water heater working again since it went out Sunday, but I cannot get the pilot light to stay lit despite my best efforts and doing some research into the problem.

I follow the instructions carefully, and have no issues lighting the pilot light, but when it comes time to lift up on the gas and turn it to the on position, the pilot light invariably goes back out. Based on the research I’ve done, it seems like this is a problem with the thermocouple, so I took the pilot light assembly out and cleaned the thermocouple rod with steel wool, but that made no noticeable difference.

Ideally I can avoid having to call a plumber or buy a device to test the output of my thermocouple, as money is pretty tight currently.

https://imgur.com/a/FZK9r8d This should be an image of the flame through the window, along with an image of the thermocouple itself.

Any help is appreciated, thank you!

Edit: I don’t know the name of this assembly but here’s a picture of this thing left inside to show that it is intact (from what I can tell, it’s not loose or visibly broken) https://imgur.com/a/xowKEPH

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Comments

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MILF_Man t1_jeh11rl wrote

The thermocouple has failed. Its super common.

Remove it and go to your local hardware store and get a replacement.

Usually under 20 bucks.

Reinstall it and it will now light.

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littlerobertanthony OP t1_jeh1sf2 wrote

Replying to MILF_Man (#2,559,059)

Thank you for taking the time! That seems very reasonable, especially since I know this water heater is 9+ years old. Two questions,

https://imgur.com/a/M7922PD there’s some kind of bracket of hardware holding the current thermocouple in place. Will I need any special tools or anything to remove that? Will the new thermocouple have instructions on how to do that?

How proprietary are thermocouples? How can I make sure I buy the right one?

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kingcoin1 t1_jeh1vrb wrote

Just get a new thermocouple, they are cheap

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04HondaCivic t1_jeh2xa5 wrote

As the last two posters have said, the thermocouple seems to have gone bad. Even cleaning it won’t work. It’s a relatively inexpensive part. I’ve replaced mine on my water heater and also my furnace. Pretty simple repair to do on your own.

What I did is searched Amazon for water heater thermocouple and found one that matched what I had. There are a couple different types. Try including the water brand and model in your search. Such as “Rheem MODEL water heater thermocouple”

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littlerobertanthony OP t1_jeh32ka wrote

Replying to kingcoin1 (#2,559,496)

Thank you! Repeat of my earlier questions:

https://imgur.com/a/M7922PD there’s some kind of bracket of hardware holding the current thermocouple in place. Will I need any special tools or anything to remove that? Will the new thermocouple have instructions on how to do that?

How proprietary are thermocouples? How can I make sure I buy the right one?

1

leif021 t1_jeh3hoy wrote

It may not be getting air circulation. If there's space under neath try vacuuming with a brush. This worked for me a month ago and I was able to relight it.

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