pilot light?
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Elder User
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 700
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From: waterloo, iowa
pilot light?
I just bought my house this year so it's the first time i've really had to deal with this.
My pilot light for my furnace goes out when it is windy outside.
it's gone out a couple times this year.. but yesterday we had 40+ mph winds and it went out 4 times.
Why would it go out all the time?Ithough maybe just a draft blew down there when you open the door. but there aren't any registers anywhere near the door.
also my father in law was telling me about a different kind of pilot that is just a heated wire? that only ingnited when needed. Can that kind of pilot be installed on any furnace?
My pilot light for my furnace goes out when it is windy outside.
it's gone out a couple times this year.. but yesterday we had 40+ mph winds and it went out 4 times.
Why would it go out all the time?Ithough maybe just a draft blew down there when you open the door. but there aren't any registers anywhere near the door.
also my father in law was telling me about a different kind of pilot that is just a heated wire? that only ingnited when needed. Can that kind of pilot be installed on any furnace?
New User
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 0
Likes: 24
High efficiency Electronic furnaces like mine have a flame sensor
Old ones have thermal-couples like on a water heater.
Yours must be the same.. tell us the make and model number
If it's a newer furnace.
I suspect the flame sensor is bad like mine was on Monday.
when it tries to fire up the main burner ..it goes poooof !
Old ones have thermal-couples like on a water heater.
Yours must be the same.. tell us the make and model number
If it's a newer furnace.
I suspect the flame sensor is bad like mine was on Monday.
when it tries to fire up the main burner ..it goes poooof !
Last edited by Mil1ion; Jan 30, 2008 at 05:53 PM.
Posting Guru
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 1,627
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From: West Valley Utah
Generally if you have a standing pilot light (as in it is lit all the time) and it goes out when the wind blows, there is negative pressure in the building. Open the door to go in or out and the air comes sucking into the flue. I've seen where placing a swamp cooler in the vicinity of a flue changes the way the wind acts around the flue and blow out a pilot.
If the furnace and generally the water heater have been walled in, it makes the problem worse. You need to bring combustion air (outside air) into the room. I generally have combustion air come in high and a grill on another wall, down low. If the problem is real bad, a draft inducer on the flue might be the only fix. I've only run into that problem in buildings with a lot of exhaust fans (like a cafe)
If the furnace and generally the water heater have been walled in, it makes the problem worse. You need to bring combustion air (outside air) into the room. I generally have combustion air come in high and a grill on another wall, down low. If the problem is real bad, a draft inducer on the flue might be the only fix. I've only run into that problem in buildings with a lot of exhaust fans (like a cafe)
Post Fiend
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 13,873
Likes: 3
From: Atlanta GA
Make sure your exhaust vent on the roof is tall enough and has a cap. Many times when they rust away people cut them shorter for the home sale and never replace the cap or make the pipe longer.
Make sure the flue damper is working.
Make sure the flue damper is working.
Posting Guru
Joined: Dec 2002
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From: Princeton, MN
Sometimes it's not the wind blowing out the flame, sometimes it's just moving it enough to cause a problem. Usually those pilot flames don't move much when the wind blows but sometimes they move just enough to get the flame off of the thermocouple so it cools down and shuts the gas off thus killing the pilot. I've seen one repair man watch the flame and just bend the thermocouple bracket a little bit so that the thermocouple is in contact with the flame both when the pilot flame is in normal position and the wind blown position so it keeps the gas flowing. Of course if the flame gets blown out completely the T-couple still cools and shuts off the gas for safety.
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Senior User
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 387
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From: Cambridge, Ontario
Sounds like a NEG pressure issue , how old is furnace, may wanna have the heat exchanger inspected for leaks\cracks, known to kick out pilots as well. Is this a chimney liner or a stack used for termination ? look to see height of termination it should be around 3'ft higher than any surface within 10'tf radius.
No problem can replace that millivolt system to a 24Vac spark ignition in no time.
No problem can replace that millivolt system to a 24Vac spark ignition in no time.
Last edited by CretePumper; Feb 3, 2008 at 09:59 AM.
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Elder User
Joined: Mar 2003
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From: northern Michigan
In this area we have had the same problems on the newer homes. To save cost the builders use as short of a stack as possible, adding one or two lengths of pipe on the flue will increase draft and should solve the problem. Also look at where the cold air intake is, on the newer furnaces it is a multi wall flue with a special adapter that takes outside air and warms it with the flue gas, in areas that get snow we have had issues with this being too close to the roof and being plugged with snow. Raising it one pipe length solves this issue also. On the high efficiency furnaces that use the PVC pipe flues look at the flue and make sure it goes straight up, in some homes to duck around the trusses they jog over and the flue needs to have no level or low spots in it or it will condense water in the low spot and trigger your flue draft switch shutting down the furnance.
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