Have you had trouble keeping your mobile home water heater pilot light on? Does it blow in all tastes of the wind? Most likely you have a problem that can be easily fixed. First let’s talk about why this happens.

The way the wind blows over the wing of an airplane is the same way the wind blows over its roof. As the wind reaches the surface of your roof, the wind at the top of the roof picks up and flows quite quickly. This has an adverse effect on the chimneys and chimneys of gas burning appliances such as the furnace and water heater. Then the wind blows hard through the chimneys or B-Vents, blowing out the pilot light. However, let’s clear something up. If Mother Nature wants to turn off the pilot, she will, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it permanently. All you can do is persuade him that it doesn’t happen all the time. When you have a gas burning appliance, like a water heater or furnace that uses a pilot light, turning it back on from time to time is perfectly normal.

What you don’t want to do to curb this problem is to install a screen around the top of the chimney or B-vent. This may seem like a common sense solution, but it is very dangerous. In winter, ice and snow will accumulate on the screen material, which will cause a very dangerous situation. Combustion gases can accumulate and become clogged. A deadly carbon monoxide spill can occur, putting you and/or your family at great risk. Please do not solve your problem with this method.

A preferred method of reducing pilot outage problems is to install an exterior chimney extension or vent B. The science behind this method is simple once you remember why this problem occurs in the first place. Do you remember how the wind speeds up when it hits the roof? By raising the chimney or vent B, you are changing the exit point of the flue gases to a higher point, where the wind flows at the same rate as anywhere else. The wind will continue to flow faster near the roof surface as long as the top of the vent is not touching, which will not allow the wind to come down and blow the pilot away. You can purchase exterior extensions at large home improvement stores and wholesale heating and plumbing supply companies.

Remember, solving this problem means working on top of your roof. If you are not completely comfortable working at that height, call a professional to keep the pilot light on your mobile home water heater on.