How can I relight my water heater burner or get gas flowing again?

Question

My kids turned off the red valve which lets gas flow to the burner and after that was off for a day, I noticed it.
The pilot light will stay relit but the burner will not relight. I have drained at least 10 gallons of cold water from the heater, relit the pilot and the water heater burner won't relight. I did not have a flood in the basement and didn't do anything that would have disrupted the hot water. A few days ago, the water heater just stopped heating the water...?
Model number: G51-50T40-3NV
Serial Number: 9712114405
Product number: 0720686
90 lb capacity
ANSI Z21.10.1b-1994
Minimum supply pressure: 4.5
Manifold pressure: 3.5
Maximum pressure: 10.5
Input rating btu/hr: 40,000

I have placed a lit candle flame under the burner, since the pilot light is small and might not reach the burner. Even doing this does not light the burner. I hope I don't have to buy a new water heater.

Answer 1

If you are having that much trouble just relighting the gas buner, the best solution is to call your gas company and they will send out an expert who can either fix the problem, or at least tell you how to do it next time. The Gas Company does not charge for those kinds of service calls, as there might be a danger of explosion or gas escaping elsewhere on the line.

Answer 2

There is usually a thermoelectric coupler which makes sure that your pilot light is on before it lets the gas flow. It might be defective or not properly connected.

It might look like this:

http://www.appliancespares.co.za/4900/technogas%20gas,%20electric%20stove%20right%20and%20left%20rear%20thermo%20coupler.aspx



If it is broken it can be replaced pretty easily but if you are not familiar with it you might consider calling somebody from a heating and cooling company. See if you can locate yours. It might also be like a tiny photosensor and if the lens is obscured/dirty it won't work. It also won't work if it is not pointing in to the flame of the pilot light. The thermocoupler will also not work unless the pilot light heats it, so it if has been inadvertently moved, you might have to just move it back.



Those elements make sure that the gas doesn't flow if it isn't burning. So if the pilot light comes on but the gas doesn't, it's most likely a problem with whatever sensor you have.

Answer 3

Are you turning the red knob back to the on potion after you lit the pilot?



The red knob is a three position knob, those are off, pilot and on. In the pilot position the knob can be depress downward and the pilot then can be lit. The general rule is to depress the knob, light the pilot and keep holding the knob down for 45 to 60 seconds before releasing this time allows for the pilot to remain lit after waiting, if the pilot remains lit then turn the red knob to the on position and the burner should then ignite.



The following PDF is for information clarity only,page 20.

http://www.americanwaterheater.com/support/manuals/res-gas.pdf

Answer 4

with the new types of water heaters these days having screens to prevent flammable gas explosions, it could be that the screen is dirty and not letting in enough combustable air to keep main burner going. I have fixed multiple water heaters with that problem

Answer 5

This might help you.

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=bIp6hIgNgdw&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DbIp6hIgNgdw



There are more youtube videos that could also help