Comments on: How Does My Water Heater Work?

By: amawirep

amawirep — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 01:41:14 +0000

I’m willing to bet you have a pilot light on that heater. A pilot light is a small continuous flame that burns right next to the main burner. If you take off the door in the front of the heater right under the temp.controls, you will see the pilot flame. In case your worried that gas will continue to flow if something extinguishes the flame, there is a thermocouple that shuts off the flow of gas if the flame stops.

By: WP Robot

WP Robot — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 01:41:14 +0000

On the mechanism that has the water temperature dial, there usually is a little knob that has three settings, “On,” “Pilot,” and “Off.” If the heater hasn’t been on in a while, turn this to “Off” for about 10 minutes to clear out any excess gas. If you smell gas after the 10 mintues, you might have a leak. Turn the temperature dial to the lowest setting and put the knob to the “Pilot” setting (you may have to hold the buttom down while turning). Use a long match to make contact with the ignitor. Once it lights, turn the knob to “On” and it should work on its own from there.

By: carpente

carpente — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 01:41:14 +0000

it has a pilot light and a thermostat. the pilot light is a continuous flame to ignite the main burner when the thermostat relays that the burner is needed to heat the water to a set temperature. then the main burner shuts off until needed again

By: bbj1776

bbj1776 — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 01:41:14 +0000

Older water heater have a pilot light. When the temp. falls below the setting, the thermostatic
open the gas valve and the polot light start the flame.

By: randy_is

randy_is — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 01:41:14 +0000

it has a pilot light and a thermostat—when it drops below the set temp, the gas valve opens and the pilot light ignites it, which heats your water !!!

By: ss

ss — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 01:41:14 +0000

same way a gas furnace works, if its gas it has a pilot light