September 13, 2008
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My pilot light is out in my apartment. I am inclined to believe this is thanks to my roommate’s shoving an oversized fan and vacuum into our utility closet (what a lovely storage place, no?) and upsetting the natural forces of our water heater.
You always call your dad first in situations like this. “You could do it,” he said when I asked how one goes about lighting the dead light.
“I think I’d burn the apartment down,” I replied.
“It’s certainly a possibility, but cold showers are no fun and it may be worth burning the place down.”I called our maintenance guy at about 4 and he said he’d be in this afternoon – “who’s gonna be there?” he asked. “I will,” I replied, willing to stay vigilant for the sake of hot water.
He has yet to come. Now it is 10:51, I have Googled “how to light a pilot light” several times and bought the wrong kind of matches – apparently I need the extra long ones to do it myself – while sitting in our utility closet with my laptop as Lappy and I try to figure out how I can take normal showers again.
YIKES.
Comments (25)
Call your dad and have him talk you through it over the phone. My husband did that for our daughter when her stove wouldn’t light.
So… did you leave the gas on?
@DrugInducedDuck - negative.
@saintvi - i think i’m gonna have him talk me through it tomorrow morning
@Natalia - lol, alright, then it’s pretty easy, you just…. light it. As long as you didn’t leave the gas going, your apartment should stay intact.
@DrugInducedDuck - yeah, it’s off . . . and i’ve lit it and hit the Big Red Reset Button but nothing’s happening. alas.
Would you be interested in replacing your gasoline with propane? It’s much, much better. And cheaper. SO WHY NOT!?
Do what I do; insurance scam! Blow everything up and spend all the money in Guam.
@AvenueToTheReal - I AM VERY INTERESTED! PLEASE CONTACT ME IMMEDIATELY!
What are you going to do with all that hot water, anyway?
My carbon monoxide detector went off once. I had to call 911 and everything . . .
Good luck! You are braver then I am to even try to fix it. I know I’d end up burning down my apartment.
Good luck not blowing up.
Be sure to write a success post – but you might want to write an obit just in case. You can always take it down later.
Just set it to “Pilot” and light it, leave it on pilot for a few seconds and then turn it to “on.”
But ours is propane so I’m not sure if there’d be a difference lighting it.
RYC: I thought so, haha. You and porcupinesol.
Cold-showers aren’t that bad, although with the change in weather temperature I’ve been taking much warmer showers than most summer nights. No shower for you last night then? Ewwww, smelly!
@Kens_Parking_Only - oh i took one – but it was quick and chilly
good luck with that! I never could figure out how to light the pilot light on the gas heater we had. I had to get my brother to do it since hubby was at work. It might be time to call dad again!
Please let us know when you didn’t blow yourself up.
Words of advice and encouragement: Don’t asplode.
we will miss you *sob*
I just call the gas company and they send someone. Judi
Ha, I was just getting ready to comment with “NATALIA BLEW UP OH NOES!” and then you got online. Haha.
i hope you get it on…i couldn’t trust myself with matches, ever.
Hey..I was wondering could you tell me how to get rid of these numbers at the bottom? They show everywhere but pulses & old sites. They ALSO show on my emails now….
0F9349DC-EC0D-48C9-4825-6F2E71F2428B1.02.211.02.05
Psst… there’s instructions on the side of the water heater. Hope you got it sorted out by now
@radicalramblings - yup, we got it figured out after the super came in and performed what the equivalent of open heart surgery is for water heaters. i was following the instructions on the side before, but it completely ineffective. sigh.
and yes, we have hot water now