6 Gal Pilot type Atwood water heater

lowfuss wrote:
Hello,

I have a 6 gallon pilot type atwood water heater (Manufacturer's date 2001; White Rodger thermostat & Jade pilot). When cold I can light the pilot and start the unit and operates as it should ... after four minutes it shuts off (no pilot or flame). I can turn the knob to pilot and light it again ... but as soon as I turn it "on" pilot turns goes out and unit does not fire. I cleaned the whole unit, no obstructions, I removed thermocouple and tested it with a voltmeter that went to 25mV when heated ... back to zero when cooled. Last thing I'm thinking it is the thermostat but at $300 here in Canada ... big bucks to experiment with ... it's only $100 in the US.

thx,
Richard

Make sure the thermocouple is positioned close enough to the pilot flame first.

Second is to try a lighter along with the pilot to thoroughly heat the thermocouple and see if the pilot still shuts off.

Third is the thermocouple COULD still be bad and give you a NO LOAD voltage when hot (your meter will not draw enough current to show this fault)..

Under load the thermocouple may not be able to supply enough current to hold the pilot valve open. Thermocouples are pretty cheap, perhaps $9 or so and you can buy generic ones at Home Depot/ Lowes or many home improvement stores like those. I would try that first before spending money on a gas valve.