Need to know how to relight a pilot in an older house.?

Question

When i lift the vent there is a type of cylinder and it has a small silver button. there is no thermostat that I know of, just vents. Just moved in and its cold!! Please help!

so i lifted the buttion and there is a hole. There is a hole in the cylinder but no on off knob.... I'm soo confused. when i moved in there was a long stick thing nxt to the vent do i have to stick that lit into the hole in the cylinder?

Answer 1

I think you need to call in an expert, it could be dangerous to fiddle with it yourself if you have no idea what you are doing! And I certainly wouldn't recommend poking sticks into it unless you are sure that's what it's for (which you obviously aren't)!

Most appliances with a pilot light have some instructions somewhere on how to relight them, though. On my backboiler I looked all over & couldn't see any until I realised they were on the back of the part I had removed to get at the controls - doh! But if it's very old it may not have instructions or they may be missing.

If you have any contact details for the previous inhabitants, you could ask them if they know how to work it.

Answer 2

A standard safety pilot apparatus consists of the valve body, a turnable knob with positions labeled Off, Pilot, and On, and a button (which often is simply pressing down on the turnable knob). To the valve body are attached the gas inlet pipe, an outlet pipe of the same size to the main burner, a small pipe which carries gas to the pilot flame, and a thermcouple, which is a cylinder (on which the pilot flame will impinge) connected to the valve body by a thin copper tube (looks like a wire). Check with a flashlight to verify that what you see matches this description; if it does not, the system may not have a safety pilot valve and in that event it must be replaced. If OK so far, proceed as follows: Turn the knob to Pilot, make sure the main gas supply is turned on, hold a match near the pilot flame point, and press the button, The pilot flame should light within a few seconds. Continue holding the button for a full minute; this will let the flame heat the thermocouple. Release the button, and if the thermocouple is hot enough, the pilot will stay lit. (If this fails after several tries, the thermocouple may be defective and require replacement; they cost less than $5.) Now turn the knob to On, and the main burner should light. There should be a thermostat somewhere that will turn off the main burner when the house gets warm enough; find it and set it appropriately.

Answer 3

I am assuming because you mentioned cold it is your furnace you need lit. Usually next to the pilot on the outside there are step by step instructions on how to do this.

On gas furnaces you usually have to first turn the furnace completely off. Then once it is off you turn it to the first position which is the light position. The button you mentioned is depressed at this time and you hold it down as your match lights the pilot light. You have to keep holding the button down once the pilot light is lit as there is usually a thermal couple right above the pilot light ( a little brass colored wire) this tells the furnace when the pilot light goes out and shuts off the flow of gas. After a couple of minute the pilot light will warm up the thermal couple and the pilot light will stay lit when you let go of the button. Once this is done you turn the knob to the full on position.

Answer 4

Underneath the heating system there is a small box shaped opening. Over this opening there should be a cover remove the cover, just like you were lighting your hot water heater. There will be a pilot there. You said you are unable to locate the thermostat. Since this is an old system the thermostat is most likely near the heating system, so that you are able to turn it on right before you light it. It is possible that you have a gas knob (wheel) to turn on before you light it also, just like an old hot water heater. If you are not familiar with this type of equipment you may want to ask some one who is to help. It can be dangerous.

Answer 5

Hey, you may need to ask this question again and describe in more detail what it is you're lighting. Sounds like there's only a button to push and you know where the pilot burns. May take a little bit of keeping the button held down while your fire catches. Maybe it can't be reached by hand and a match? Often used a coat hanger with a wrapped piece of alcohol-soaked cotton so that it would give us more burning time to position it (while you're holding the button down?) close to the pilot. Good luck.

Answer 6

Call the gas company. They will should come out and check for leaks and will light the pilot for you.