Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site mtxinu.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!ihnp4!zehntel!dual!unisoft!mtxinu!ed From: ed@mtxinu.UUCP (Ed Gould) Newsgroups: net.consumers Subject: Re: pilot light out? Message-ID: <298@mtxinu.UUCP> Date: Sun, 3-Mar-85 19:31:52 EST Article-I.D.: mtxinu.298 Posted: Sun Mar 3 19:31:52 1985 Date-Received: Wed, 6-Mar-85 05:52:29 EST References: <767@amdcad.UUCP> Distribution: net Organization: mt Xinu, Berkeley, CA Lines: 22 > My heater hasn't been working all week. I finally looked at it > and discovered the pilot light was out. Lighting it restored > normal function. > > 1) How could this happen? Would a power failure have anything to > do with it? It's possible that a power failure did it, but I don't think so. All of the gas-fired heaters I know of use electricity only to control the main valve (via the thermostat) and to run fans. Maybe a gas outage? That's *very* unlikely, since the gas companies are quite careful not to restart flow when valves might be open. > 2) How did it know the pilot was out? There's a valve operated by the heat of the pilot. If there's no pilot, then the valve closes and cuts off the entire gas supply. So far as I know, this is an entirely mechanical setup. -- Ed Gould mt Xinu, 739 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA 94710 USA {ucbvax,decvax}!mtxinu!ed +1 415 644 0146