Pilot Light Out On Oil Furnace

Furnace pilot light troubleshooting.

Pilot light out on oil furnace. The pilot orifice may be full of dirt. Another pilot light drawback is energy waste. The thermocouple is a copper rod that the pilot flame heats up. In this episode of repair and replace vance shows how to relight the pilot light in a standing pilot furnace.

A weaker flame won t envelop the thermocouple properly. Furnace with a pilot light. A number of things can make an old furnace pilot light go out including a strong draft a faulty thermocouple or a loss of gas. The pilot light is a small flame that is either lit manually and remains burning.

If your heat is on but the furnace is only blowing cool air there is a good chance you have a pilot light that is out. Once the oil is hot the heat is propelled through the house by way of a furnace fan. Since the pilot light needs to remain active your furnace is always consuming some gas. If out has continued for a long time a gas cloud can develop around the furnace.

Oil furnaces will heat automatically. When pilot light goes out gas flows out of the pilot light nozzle. It s not a lot usually just a few therms of gas a month but that obviously adds up over time. Watch our video on how to get that pil.

If your pilot light goes out all you need to. There is a safety issue as well. A modern gas furnace usually has an electronic spark generator to ignite the gas when the thermostat calls for heat. Cleaning out the pilot orifice means disassembling the pilot and clearing out the debris using a needle or compressed air.

An older gas furnace has a standing pilot that stays on all the time or at least it s supposed to. Pilot lights can develop problems that cause them to burn inefficiently. The pilot light is supposed to be a strong blue cone not a weak yellow flame. Some could mean a mechanical issue but it could also be something harmless like a strong draft during a windstorm or temporary interruption in gas service.

When the furnace kicks on the pilot light is used to ignite the burners which produce heat for your home. If your older furnace utilizes a pilot light that won t stay lit the thermocouple may be loose or faulty the pilot orifice may be clogged the pilot s flame may be set too low or the safety cutoff valve may be defective.