vlopddap wrote:
I totally agree with your opinion because I am not sure neither how the thermocouple is working exactly in the overall operating sequence. But in my opinion it certainly have something to do with the burner control valve too (not only pilot), as you don't want your water heater burner to "switch on" gas if the pilot light have died! So the thermocouple surely have something to do directly with the burner control valve at some point. Are you not agree?
I do some searches on Google about this issue and I found two threads from other forum where people reported similar issue (where pilot light, but main burner won't turn ON) and they both finally pointed to a defective thermocouple/pilot assembly.
I also found a thread where the guy reported that the pilot light outlet where misaligned with the thermocouple rod and provide a bad heating. I am not sure exactly because it's a pretty tight space to look at, but maybe at some point my pilot outlet may been bend a little bit during the ignition process... I am trying to figure out what is the relation between the thermocouple and the main burner gas control valve here...
I certainly would expect the pilot going out to shut off all gas to the burner, both the pilot and the main burner. I assume (but do not know!) that it just shuts off all the gas at the input, at least on the controls I've seen for water heaters, but perhaps it's not that simple.
If others with similar difficulties have found that replacing or adjusting the thermocouple have solved the issue, then that doesn't seem like a completely silly thing to try.
