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I have a very old Sears gas furnace. Recently, the pilot started going out by itself. Since there have been no new drafts created around the furnace that might blow out the pilot, I assumed it needed a new thermocouple. I replaced it and the problem remained. I turned up the gas pressure to the pilot and that worked for a couple months (though I felt that the size of the flame I needed to create to keep the pilot from shutting off was a waste of gas). Now, after I light the pilot and immediately run the furnace, after the thermostat shuts off the furnace, the pilot goes out and I’m back to the beginning. Could the problem be anything other than a faulty gas valve at this point?
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Greg, Does your pilot burn with a good strong blue flame when you hold the pilot knob on the gas control valve and light it? Does the pilot stay lit as long as you hold the pilot button down? If it does, you still may have a thermocouple problem. Is the pilot flame hitting the tip of the thermocouple properly? Maybe the alignment of the flame to the tip got knocked off when you were installing the new one. Make sure the connections at each end of the thermocouple are clean and tight and that the tubing is not kinked.
I'm assuming your main burner is functioning OK?
Is it possible that your pilot gas tube is kinked?
Next time you light the pilot, leave the valve on the pilot setting and light the pilot with a propane torch and then heat the thermocouple tip with the torch and see if the pilot will burn. If it does, you probably just need to re-align your pilot flame to the tip of the thermocouple.
If all this fails, I would go get another thermocouple and make sure it is properly installed before I went out and replaced the gas valve.
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I have a very old Sears gas furnace. Recently, the pilot started going out by itself. Since there have been no new drafts created around the furnace that might blow out the pilot, I assumed it needed a new thermocouple. I replaced it and the problem remained. I turned up the gas pressure to the pilot and that worked for a couple months (though I felt that the size of the flame I needed to create to keep the pilot from shutting off was a waste of gas). Now, after I light the pilot and immediately run the furnace, after the thermostat shuts off the furnace, the pilot goes out and I'm back to the beginning. Could the problem be anything other than a faulty gas valve at this point?