Gas water heater won't light...

[Jimmy Wright]

Have a US Craftmaster gas water heater.
We ran out of gas, and once refilled I has to relight the pilot...
But it won't.
I read on some other pages that the Thermocouple might be bad. Bought one at ACE Hardware today & put it in. The old one was pretty carboned up. Brushed off all the other components. Tested the igniter, sparking just fine.
Put it back together, and... nothing.

Suggestions from you pros out there?

 

[Phog]

I'm not a pro. You might try getting one of those aim-a-flame candle lighters and warming up the thermocouple tip with the lighter flame for 30-60 seconds before attempting to light the pilot, if you have not done this already.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Reach4]

I'm not a pro. You might try getting one of those aim-a-flame candle lighters and warming up the thermocouple tip with the lighter flame for 30-60 seconds before attempting to light the pilot, if you have not done this already.

I would be thinking along the same lines with a small tip on the propane torch, not turned on full blast. If that works, you still will probably want to try more testing.

 

[Phog]

Also BE CAREFUL, allow several minutes to evacuate any natural gas from the combustion chamber before putting any flames inside to warm the thermocouple. Don't make a situation where things go boom.

 

[Reach4]

I presume you are doing it right, but you might want to review page 17 of http://www.uscraftmaster.com/pdf/manuals/BFGmanual.pdf

That button they call the reset button enables gas flow to the pilot before the thermocouple is hot.

 

[MACPLUMB]

SEE WHIRLPOOL WATER HEATERS AT THE HEAD OF THIS SECTION, US CRAFTMASTER IS MADE BY AMERICAN SAME AS WHIRLPOOL

 

[Dj2]

"We ran out of gas, and once refilled I has to relight the pilot...
But it won't."
- You tried to re-light the pilot and were unsuccessful, did you follow the instructions precisely?
What Reach4 is saying is true: to get gas flowing to the pilot, you need to depress and hold the button for about 15 seconds (let the gas flow and reach the pilot), then strike. If it lights up keep holding the button for about a minute, then release and the pilot should stay on.
If you still can't get the pilot to light up, the problem may be in the gas valve.