Its always something…and today is no different. Today it is the Water Heater and No Hot water. The burner is not staying lite. The Pilot will light and stays lite until I turn the dial to On, and then the gas shuts off. So armed with these little facts.. I took this information and went to google to do my research and do my best to figure out what the problem is and if it is something I can fix. After about 20 mins of searching through all sorts of websites and articles about troubleshooting water heater problems I was able to come to the conclusion based on the facts that it was the Thermocouple….
A thermocouple typically is used on a gas furnace with a standing pilot, recognizable by its small, continuously burning flame. The tip of the thermocouple is positioned in the flame, keeping the tip heated at all times. If the pilot flame goes out, the tip cools, and the thermocouple automatically shuts off the furnace’s gas valve and you get no hot water.
The part is $20 at Home Depot.
The average service call $150.
So I’ve educated myself in the removal of the broken part and the installation of a new thermocouple. Using a do it yourself pluming video on YouTube…after watching the video several times, I felt pretty sure of myself that I wouldn’t have a problem with the repair.
Its categorized as a simply fix, No Problem I got this. The whole thing took me 20 mins. I was back up and running start to finish including the trip to Home Depot in just under 2 hours.
With my dynamic critical thinking skills, and a couple of YouTube videos, I can do anything that I set my mind to doing.
And you can too.
Start with what you know and then build on that.. keep looking for that one piece of information that puts the whole picture into perspective and you can identify the problem and visualize the fix.
