Propane furnace

Nathan (SD) · Nov 23, 2015

I have a older Coleman pilot light furnace. It will work fine for weeks and then all the sudden the pilot light will be out. I have replaced the thermocoupler a few times. A new low pressure regulator last year. It just fizzes out every so often. Any other things to check out?

dgasper · Nov 23, 2015

I had a blast of wind come through the cold air intake and blow out the pilot.

JD Seller · Nov 23, 2015

I will second checking for a down draft in the vent pipe. I had a gas water heater that would do the same thing. I finally routed the vent differently and that was the end of the trouble.

Janicholson · Nov 23, 2015

Putting a gas rated vent cap on the flue can do the trick. Jim
vent cap

MARK ROBKE · Nov 23, 2015

Does anyone play with the thermostat? Like turn it up real fast ,then the burner lights,then turn it down,and then back up,attempting to relight the burner,but the pilot is extinguished from the on and off back draft? Mark

cowdog · Nov 23, 2015

That gas venting can be a real bugger. Sometimes it will blow em out , sometimes they get suction ed out. I agree with the vent stack. Be easy enough to check and fix.

hd6gtom · Nov 23, 2015

When I was in the fuel business we saw a lot of cracked heat exchangers do the very same thing you described.

fixerupper · Nov 23, 2015

Weak pilot light?

Steve@Advance · Nov 23, 2015

If you're sure the heat exchanger is good, and plan on keeping it a while, invest $200 in a Honeywell intermittent pilot conversion. It eliminates the standing pilot, lights with a spark.

I fought with blown out pilots on the furnaces at our church for years! Finally convinced them to spend the money on the kits, no more problems, no wasted gas on continuous pilots burning!

Ebay has the best price I've found. If you go this route, be careful to buy the complete new kit.

Goose · Nov 23, 2015

Has it always done it, or has it just started? As others have said, a back draft down the vent can blow out the pilot.

However, I recently couldn't keep the pilot lit on the furnace in my shop. I had a couple of different thermocouples on it, too, and didn't help. Turned out the pilot was plenty strong by appearance, but the orifices in the pilot were getting sooty and needed to be cleaned. There was plenty of flame from the pilot but it wasn't hot enough to actuate the thermocouple. Your pilot flame should be totally blue with no yellow.

On mine, you could push the button on the valve and the pilot would stay lit as long as you held the button down. When you released the button to light the burners, the pilot would go out. I called an old buddy who used to work for the local gas company. He spotted the problem right away and said the pilot flame was too yellow. We cleaned out the pilot orifices and it's working perfectly.

Nathan (SD) · Nov 24, 2015

It does seem like I have to hold the pilot knob down alot longer than I needed to years ago. I am gonna check the pilot orfice.

It has actually done this for 2 winters. I got electric backup heat so it has just kind of been an irritation I put up with.

Roger Tomfohrde · Nov 24, 2015

When I worked for D&S heating that was usually a draft problem like others have stated. If this is a trailer house or mobile home,the first thing to check is the roof jack to see if it is not plugged or collapsed(seen that a couple times). Be careful what you retrofit as some things are not legal with trailer houses or mobile homes.
Good luck.
Roger

WGM · Nov 24, 2015

Clean or replace the pilot orifice.

Propane furnace

Nathan (SD)

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dgasper

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JD Seller

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Janicholson

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MARK ROBKE

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cowdog

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hd6gtom

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fixerupper

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Steve@Advance

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Goose

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Nathan (SD)

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Roger Tomfohrde

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WGM

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