Louisville Plumbing and Heating

Lighting a gas furnace pilot is a top question we get asked and it is frequently a trouble shooting step we recommend if your furnace isn’t producing heat.  It’s really not difficult to light a gas furnace pilot, it’s just knowing what to do and the order to do it in. Louisville Plumbing and Heating gives you an easy guide to lighting a gas furnace pilot.

You should be able to find instructions on your furnace on how the furnace manufacturer recommends you light the pilot, follow these instructions if you can find them. If you can not find instructions for lighting the pilot follow the steps below.

1. Locate the pilot light on your gas furnace. It will have a gas valve with “on”, “off”, and “pilot” settings marked.
2. The next step is to turn the valve to the “off” position and wait 3 minutes.
3. Next step is to turn the valve to “pilot”. To light the pilot hold a lighted match to the pilot opening, locate the “reset” button and push the “reset” button. Keep the “reset” button pressed until pilot flame burns strongly, then turn the valve to the “on” position.
4. If the pilot flame goes out, the opening may be a little clogged. To unclog it, turn the gas valve off, and clean the opening with a thin piece of wire. This should unclog it, start the procedure over to light the pilot.

If the pilot light doesn’t stay lit after several tries call a professional heating contractor to trouble shoot the problem.