The pilot lights I’m familiar with just light the rest of the flame directly since they are burning already - turning on the fuel is all that is required. What systems uses a thermocouple and a solenoid?
replyAny modern country with safety regulations will require a thermocouple in the loop if there is a pilot light on the appliance. The last non thermocouple appliance I saw was an industrial kitchen stove, but it had been modified for propane, and I suspect that the guy who did it ripped out the safety stuff.
replyEvery factory appliance will gate the full gas flow behind the activation of a the thermocouple.
When you push and hold a dial or button to get a pilot lit, what you are actually doing is bypassing the thermocouple safety until it gets to temperature. If you release the “hold to light” knob too soon your pilot will go out since the thermocouple needs ~10 seconds to get to temp.
Approximately all gas appliance pilot lights.
replyhttps://www.acservicetech.com/post/how-the-gas-pilot-light-f...
I've got a Honeywell digital controller on my hot water heater. It's powered by the thermocouple. It can make troubleshooting a lot easier because it has flashing lights for diagnostics.
replyIt’s extremely common for the mechanism that only allows the fuel to be turned on if the pilot is lit to work by having a thermocouple in the pilot flame. Some of these also power the controls (thermostat, for example) and some don’t.
replyYeah blowing yourself up with a gas leak is common enough when you're working on these systems that it's pretty important to have an interlock there.
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