Gas Water Heater bfg1f5040t3nov

[claytonbakerjr]

Hello All
I will make this as short as possible.
Recently my Whirlpool model bfg1f5040t3nov has been giving me fits with the pilot light not stayng lit.
Last night I removed everything and cleaned her up a bit, re-installed and all was well. Came back about
1/2 hour later and the pilot light was out again.
So I started tinkering...my unit has something called a Thermal Switch that 2 wires from the thermostat
hook up to, in my tinkering I found that if I wiggle one of these wires the pilot light would re-light then in
the same breath I could cause the flame to go out.
So I removed both wires and touched them together and I could relight the flame.
So since the terminal was a bit loose I carefully crimped them to tighten the connection. relighted the pilot
and half hour later everything was out again.
So my queston is do I have a bad thermocouple or a bad thermal * Or *
Any help would be great because rigt now is not a good time financially to relace water heater.
I am planning on getting another thermocouple to start with.
To add this is the 3rd time in the past year this has happened. The unit is about 4 years old and in great shape.

[Freon]

Your symptoms do suggest a bad thermocouple. The previous times you had this problem, was replacing the thermocouple the correct fix.

Here is more info. from a plumber. This assumes you have the air intake at the bottom of the heater.

You got to clean the bottom of the heater screen
or all your troubles are in vain.........

These units need to be cleaned about 3 times a year
becasue they suck up lint and hair like a vaccuum sweeper...

[claytonbakerjr]

Actually in the past I have not replaced thermocouple...the pilot remained lit so I assumed it needed a good cleaning.
I will stop tonight and pick up another one. Home Depot has universal ones for under 20 bucks.