How to relight a water heater pilot light

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Some old water heaters will need to be lit with a match. The only real caution is if you are smelling gas. If so, don’t light it! You need to let the gas clear out. If it’s a constant gas leak, call a service guy for help.

The MythBusters set up a three-tier scaffold to simulate a two-story house. The lowest level housed the 52 US gallon (200 L) water heater, second level contained a simulated living room, and on top was a roof built to standard California building codes. The resulting explosion from the water heater did cause it to shoot through the living room floor and the roof. It was deemed plausible because, unlike the original myth, researchers did not uncover any documented events of water heater explosions in two-story houses.
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40 thoughts on “How to relight a water heater pilot light”

  1. Thank you so much for this. My mom’s water heater pilot light went out and you made if so easy for me to get it lit again.

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  2. Great video. Thank you. Question. That red knob for the pilot. There's that notch you need to set it at so you can hold that button down before using the ignitor. On my water heater, I had to turn it counter clockwise past the pilot light before I heard the gas turn on. When I moved it back to pilot, it sounded like it turned off so i moved it back until I heard the gas on. Is this ok?

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  3. I don't recommend messing around with a gas appliance especially a open flame one. Call a licensed master plumber for any gas issues. Don't make a mistake and blow. Better safe than boom. If you know a plumber , they do it for free sometimes…😉

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  4. Thanks for this! I was able get it started by myself. Only question that wasnt addressed was there was a loud noise when I turned the dial to warm, does that just mean the water started warming?

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  5. If you smell gas, that's a clue that your pilot light is out to begin with. Why would you then not light it if you smell gas?? Very informative video, but your comment about not lighting it has me pacing around now instead of fixing it. I'm definitely not trying to blow up.

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  6. It is Not called a hot water heater. You don't heat hot water. It's simply called a water heater. They are rated for 150psi on the relief valve and tested at 300psi. It would take many things to go wrong for this to actually happen. It's possible but extremely unlikely.
    (Been installing and specializing in water heaters for over 34 yrs.)

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  7. I seen a regular well water tank (taller than a man) that blew through the roof. The rush of water blew out the first few courses of brick causing the pump house to drop and sit at an angle. The roof (octagon shaped) was scattered all around approx 50 feet from the building. I warned them a couple weeks before the tank bottom seam was rusted out and seeping water all over the concrete. I did the math for 40psi and a 36 diameter tank and got over 40,000 lbs of force on the bottom. I believe the sudden release of the tank bottom was all it took.

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  8. Amazing! Totally impossible in this century except for deliberately malicious intent, of course (even total negligence couldn't produce this result), but what a fuckin' BOMB that water heater was! And with no real modifications except the removal of all safeties and a simulation of a runaway heating element.

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  9. only can happen with stupid add-on devices installed with the plumbing that creates a "closed system".
    Skip the backflow preventers and any other devices that create closed water systems and you can relax knowing a water heater will NEVER explode and plumbing will be protected forever.

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  10. Quit calling it a "hot water heater." It's just a water heater. If it were a hot water heater then it would be heating hot water…

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  11. One important thing to note is that this water heater was altered to ensure its failure – this would not occur in your home on an average Saturday afternoon.

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