Gas Furnace Standing Pilot

Furnaces with a standing pilot have a combination gas valve and thermocouple for a flame safety control system.

Gas furnace standing pilot.

A standing pilot gas furnace is equipped with a naturally aspirating gas burner a draft hood a solenoid operated main gas valve a continuously operating pilot light standing pilot a thermocouple safety device a 24 volt ac transformer a heat exchanger a blower and motor assembly and one or more air filters. Older style furnaces with an afue of 80 normally have a standing pilot flame meaning the flame is lit at all times. If the pilot goes out the system shuts down to prevent the gas valve from opening without a pilot to light the burner. If the pilot light goes out the furnace or water heater will not work.

Standing pilot systems can also be a hot water boiler or a steam boiler. Sometimes it is referred to as a safety pilot. In such furnaces the standing pilot works together as a team with the thermocouple the electronic device that senses if the pilot flame is hot enough to ignite natural gas or propane fuel to the burner to control gas flow and the ignition of your furnace s burners. When the pilot light is lit the thermocouple registers the heat and generates an electric current.

A standing pilot gas furnace is a particular type of gas furnace. Most modern gas furnaces have a burner that is ignited by an electronic ignition. A gas line terminates in a small burner which creates the flame. Standing pilot is an older way of igniting a furnace.

A standing pilot gas furnace uses a small continuously burning flame as a source of ignition for the main gas burner. In either case the standing pilot gas furnace is quickly becoming a thing of the past and being slowly replaced with newer more efficient electronic ignition furnaces. A standing pilot light is actually fairly simple in design. It requires a pilot light to be lit 24 7.

If your pilot light goes out all you need to. In this episode of repair and replace vance shows how to relight the pilot light in a standing pilot furnace. A bit of composite metal wire called a thermocouple connects the burner to a valve in the gas line.