Leaning water heater

[NancyKay]

I woke up this morning to no hot water. The water was coming out, it just was not hot. So I assume it's just the pilot light. The water heater itself is only a year old. Anyway, when I went to look and thought I would try to re light it myself, I noticed it was "copping a lean" a little to the right. Floor is probably soft and needs to be reinforced/fixed. But I was just wondering if that is what made the pilot go out in the first place? Like if they are not level, the pilot goes out? Any way my brother is coming today, to put some wood down and level it out and relight it. It is in my second bedroom, behind the wall. You have to remove the paneling to see it.

[MacAttack]

Sometimes strong wind can come down the flue and blow it out. Irritatingly, many pilot lights are nonadjustable. If you have strong wind from one predominant direction, it may be worth making a shield to attach to the top of the flue. That worked for me.

[Greg]

NancyKay, Please think of re leveling as a temporary repair. It sounds like you need to replace the sub floor. It May sound like a major job but it is not that difficult, but it does take some time to do right. As mac said it could be a wind issue, check the cap on the top of the chimney it is possible that there is a problem or it could be gone. Greg

[NancyKay]

Thanks for all your suggestions. It may have been the wind, because coincidentally, it was VERY windy the day before, some of my skirting was even laying in the yard when I got home. So I don't know for sure. I thought since it was INSIDE not outside, that wind wasn't an issue, but could be. We did put some plywood underneath and straightened it back out, but of course this is a temporary fix.

I look at it though as if that pilot light didn't go out, I would not have looked in there to see that it was leaning. That's an extra bedroom I don't use, and wouldn't have known until it got worse probably. Thanks again.

[Mark]

The water heater is only a year old, and its leaning. Whoever installed it should have worked on the floor as most likely it was showing signs of giving back then. Only way to fix the floor is to take the water heater out.

It's not uncommon for pilots to blow out on a windy day (same for furnaces). For those people who have constant trouble with pilot lights blowing out, we do sell a pilot relight kit that automatically relights the pilot when it blows out. It works for water heaters as well as furnaces. At the moment its not listed on the website, but anyone reading this at a later date, it probably is by now.

Mark