View single post by Retired EE
 Posted: Wed Mar 10th, 2010 11:49 pm
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Retired EE

 

Joined: Mon Mar 8th, 2010
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 After reading the installation instructions for my water heater, I discovered that the problem may be due to faulty installation. One of the causes of the pilot going out periodical can be attributed to the vent terminal flapper door.

A quote from the troubleshooting section of the installation instructions:


The flapper of the vent terminal was not installed or is missing. This causes the heater to draft through the venting system after shut down and the residual heat can build up high enough to effect the safety switch on the collector hood. (This is referred to as soak temperature).


Wish I had read that 10 years ago! My installation had no vent terminal -- just an open piece of 3" PVC exiting the building.

The safety switch is wired in series with thermocouple circuit. If the safety switch opens due to high temperature, the pilot is latched off.

I'll post again if this does *not* fix the problem.

Keywords: power vent pilot goes out periodically