I live along the Front Range of the Rockies and it can get very windy at times. About 4 or 5 times per Winter on a particularly windy day, the pilot goes out on my furnace. It is on the upper floor of my house with about 12′ of five inch, double-walled, galvanized metal flue pipe. I can hear the wind blowing down the flue on these windy days, so I assume it is the wind that blows out the pilot. Assuming that is the problem, can anyone suggest a new flue cap that might be particulary good at preventing downdrafts? Thanks.
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I am responding mostly to bump your posting up the list so others can respond, but I think there are pipes that end in a "T" that may keep the wind from going down the flue. There may even be devices that close a damper when the furnace isn't running, but that may require electronic ignition, since I would imagine the pilot light needs to be vented.
The other important point is to have a makeup air duct that communicates with the outside. This helps equalize the air pressure inside and out.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
The furnace is in a small room off the hallway, with a louvered door to allow combustion air in from the interior of the house.
Do you mean to I should seal this room off and then pipe in outside air to that room? Because when I moved in a number of years ago, I blocked off the louvered door and just put an 6x12 vent in the ceiling of the room to allow air in from the attic. It was like this for about 15 years. But the gas company was out recently to check on an unrelated problem and said that attic vent was inadequate to support combustion and that I should unblock the louvered door - which I did. I figured they know a lot more about the subject than I do.
The downdraft problem existed when the room was sealed off from the house and still exists now that is is open to the house interior air.
FWIW, we had this problem for several years with our furnaces, though the problem appeared to occur during startup -- the initial "whoosh" of the burner would blow out the pilot if the flue was cold.Eventually solved the problem by adjusting the pilot, at the advice of a customer service guy at the mfg, so that it was LOWER, and didn't "stand off" of the pilot jet.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
I have no idea exactly when it goes out, so I suppose this could possibly be the cause. I'll call the manufacturer (if they are still in business-the furnace was made in 1981) and see if they can assist. Thanks for the suggestion.
If you feel brave you can try adjusting the pilot up or down. It's a screw adjustment on the gas control valve. If you can see more than about 1/16" of "daylight" between the tip of the pilot jet and the base of the flame then it's probably set too high.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin