If you have a water heater installed in your home, then you may have easily noticed the pilot light in it and wondered what the purpose of that light was and what function it had.

Well, the answer is real simple. That pilot light on your water heater is merely a flame which fulfills the plain funtion of igniting the gas burner, which is what allows the water heater to work and heat your water up. Even if the purpose of the pilot light is as simple as what we have just explained, its importance is very significant, meaning that if this light stops working, you will be facing a problem.

Without it, your heater will not be able to maintain its temperature and the water will eventually cool down.

If your pilot light appears to not be able to stay lit or just stops working altogether this may be due to a number of reasons. Some of the reasons causing this malfunctioning can be a dirty pilot tube (which you could fix by sticking a needle into it and getting rid of that dirt), or a kink in the flex tube that cuts off the gas flow. Other common reasons why a pilot light stops working could be the presence of some kind of obstruction or damage in the thermocouple (which could be solved by removing whatever is obstructing the thermocouple using sandpaper or if the damage is to extreme, by replacing it) or a bad control valve which could be replaced.

All of the problems mentioned above could be fixed without needing to call an expert but if you fail to identify whatever is causing your heater’s pilot light not to work you should call an expert who will examine and determine the problem and then fix it for you.

 

For more information, contact Vinny’s Jersey Plumbing, located in Wayne, New Jersey.  We also service other towns in New Jersey, such as Weehawken, Hoboken and Rutherford.