BillMorehead
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My water heater pilot goes out very often in cold weather. It appears to be caused by momentary gas pressure drops. I am asking for comments for an action plan.
Today I setup my video cam toward the pilot and have learned that it goes out when my Lennox pulse furnace starts up. Sometimes the pilot just gets real low for a second and recovers, sometimes it goes out. It acts like a gas pressure drop when the furnace starts. During my video recording I had the water heater in pilot mode so it wouldn't start heating. I also put a short wax candle near the burners for light and to evaluate if a draft was the culprit. The candle did not flicker when the pilot went out.
I had been thinking I needed to replace the water heater but now that I have linked the problem to what seems to be gas pressure, I don’t know what action to take.
My natural gas supply is a higher pressure than normal residential service. Just before the meter there is a 2 PSIG regulator, after the meter the 2 PSIG supplies two in-house downstream lines. One goes to a .5 PSIG regulator that feeds the water heater and the Lennox furnace. The other 2 PSIG line continues to other appliances (range, dryer, 2 tankless water heaters) with additional .5 regulators near those appliances. The upgrade to 2 PSIG took place 3 years ago and seems to have been working okay in past Wisconsin winters.
Today I setup my video cam toward the pilot and have learned that it goes out when my Lennox pulse furnace starts up. Sometimes the pilot just gets real low for a second and recovers, sometimes it goes out. It acts like a gas pressure drop when the furnace starts. During my video recording I had the water heater in pilot mode so it wouldn't start heating. I also put a short wax candle near the burners for light and to evaluate if a draft was the culprit. The candle did not flicker when the pilot went out.
I had been thinking I needed to replace the water heater but now that I have linked the problem to what seems to be gas pressure, I don’t know what action to take.
My natural gas supply is a higher pressure than normal residential service. Just before the meter there is a 2 PSIG regulator, after the meter the 2 PSIG supplies two in-house downstream lines. One goes to a .5 PSIG regulator that feeds the water heater and the Lennox furnace. The other 2 PSIG line continues to other appliances (range, dryer, 2 tankless water heaters) with additional .5 regulators near those appliances. The upgrade to 2 PSIG took place 3 years ago and seems to have been working okay in past Wisconsin winters.