Hot water heater kicks off and pilot light goes out

It sounds like your pilot is being snuffed when the burner shuts off. This is usually caused by incorrect LP gas pressure or pilot flame adjustment. Your pop off valve should not drip. Try opening and closing it a couple of times and if it continues to drip it needs to be replaced.

sherpaxc wrote:
No, it's just a small drip and quite infrequent. S why would it work fine on a high temp but it n a medium setting? I've never cleaned it so I guess that'll be my first step.

You got me on the first part unless its a part near the failure point and the extra heat just manages to make it work - or it is very dirty... Clean it up and then observe your pilot light to see if the end of that thermocouple is directly over or very very close to the pilot flame.

The thermocouple is made from two pieces of different metal that - when heated - generate electricity. If the end if it is not very close/ in the flame it may not make enough electric to keep the valves working.

Clean it first. Then thermocouple. I think they cost like $10. Good luck.

No, it's just a small drip and quite infrequent. S why would it work fine on a high temp but it n a medium setting? I've never cleaned it so I guess that'll be my first step.

sherpaxc wrote:
Never had this problem. My Jayco hot water heater would light up just fine manually (no electric ignition just propane), start blowing the hot air for 5 minutes, then just go out as well as the pilot light. Only wa to keep it going and keep the pilot lit was to put he temp control on the hottest setting. Even then by the morning it was out. I also was getting a very small amount of warer dripping out of some type of control valve on the heater too. Any thoughts?

My first thought is that you have a bit of water dripping out of the pressure relief valve. If you have been running the heater at a high setting then I think that might be the reason... Unless its leaking water all the time you are probably ok. If the pilot goes out along with the burner, and its clean, and you have propane. The most likely cause I can think of is the thermocouple... That thermocouple generates just enough electricity to open the gas valve on your heater to keep the pilot lit and feed gas to the burner when it needs to make hot water. If the thermocouple is failing/fails you will see the symptoms you describe because it is no longer generating the tiny curent of electricity needed to open the gas valve and feed your burner and the pilot.

If this is a standing pilot light heater then it seems to me that the mostly likely cause (if you are sure it's clean and you have propane) - is that thermocouple. I have not bought one for a long-long time but they can't be very expensive. Try changing that out.

I've had the same problem for the last 2 years. I've cleaned up all the gas tubes, air inlet(no spiders), have a good sized pilot flame. Mine will do that three or four times before the water is hot. I'm wondering if maybe the pilot flame is not situated in the right spot on the thermocouple and actually letting the thermocouple cool down when the big flame is sucking air past it.