How do we clean a pilot orifice? Our Patio II does not light. Could there be spiders in the line?

It may be that your cylinder is malfunctioning, cylinder has a leak, or the pilot is clogged. Please see steps below to troubleshoot. Note:Regular maintenance is critical to the successful operation of your patio heater.

1. Is the cylinder valve closed? If so, open the cylinder valve but not fully.
2. Check to see if you can light it manually. If the unit lights manually but not with igniter, service or replace igniter switch.
3. Ensure that there is no air in the gas line. Open the gas line and bleed it (pressing control knob in) for not more than 1 - 2 minutes or until you smell gas.
4. There may be a blockage in the orifice or pilot tube? Bugs and spiders get into the pilot assembly, venturi tube and burner ports causing the unit to either not light or poor performance.
5. Is the regulator hose pinched or kinked?
6. Cleaning the pilot assembly.
7. If the piezo igniter won't spark to light the pilot, check the wiring to the igniter, It may simply have lost it's ground. Slide the wire off the igniter prong (looks like a thick needle) on the pilot assembly and then push it back on. That usually will reestablish the ground.

If you continue to have problems with the heater, contact Blue Rhino (the manufacturer) Customer Care 800-762-1142.

Hope this helps you to troubleshoot and solve the problem. Please let me know.

is the pilot light making contact with the thermocouple, is the pilot nice and blue not yellow. some times tiny spiders get into the pilot tube when not in use (summer)

If the pilot will not light at all, then first check to make sure your propane cylinder is not empty. Second disconnect the tank and reconnect, but very slowly turn the tank valve back on and try relighting it again. Third, if the above two do not solve it, then get a can of compressed air (like you use to clean computer keyboards) and blow out the dirt/spiderweb from the pilot orifice, where the pilot flame normally lights. It may just be plugged/dirty. Douglas

Hi and welcome to FiXya I am Kelly.

Your pilot light burning yellow is a sign of a dirty orifice. This can be caused by insects or a spider web in the pilot air supply.
To clean the air supply / orifice area see this page:

http://www.nexgrill.net/trouble/p1.5.html

Also the thermocouple may not be close enough to the flame. You won't know this for sure until you finish cleaning the pilot / orifice area.

This link has step by step links for all of the components / causes of a pilot not staying lit. Click each of them and it will bring up a pdf file with step by step instructions and pictures:

http://www.nexgrill.net/trouble/p3.html

A bad thermocouple can also cause this. Givien you have a yellow flame I do not think this is your problem. But if it ends not staying lit after cleaning see this page on how to get to the thermocouple:
http://www.nexgrill.net/trouble/p2.2.pdf

Thanks for choosing FixYa.

Kelly

Hello,
Here's a few things to check. When you light the pilot, is it a strong blue pilot flame, a weak blue flame or a lazy yellow flame? Is it heating the thermocouple enough to make it red hot after a few minutes? If the pilot is small blue or lazy yellow flame, it may be dirty and need cleaned. When the burner lights, the weak pilot flame may diminish causing the thermocouple to cool off enough to shut down the main burner. Clean the dirty pilot orifice by using a can of compressed air with attached straw. (The same canned air you use to clean computer keyboards) Blow it into the pilot assembly where the pilot flame burns out from and blow thru the air holes on the side, if applicable. You might also check the thermocouple itself to make sure the tip is not partially burn't off. It should be a smooth, rounded tip. Replace the thermocouple if cleaning the pilot orifice doesn't solve the problem. Douglas

When the pilot flame is tall and yellow it normally means there is a partial blockage in the pilot tube or pilot jet orifice. Try cleaning out the pilot tube and orifice.

If the heater has been sitting for awhile, an insect or small spider may have set up house inside the gas controls and this needs to be cleaned out. The holes are tiny and doesn't take much to block. Try blowing out the orifices with a compressor.

I wrote this for another person with a heater problem and thought it may help you as well.

Before you go changing parts, clean up the pilot assembly. When you heat metal and let it cool and heat it again it causes it to corrode. Also for some reason these areas seem to attract little spiders who make their homes here. This causes gas flow problems which in turn could affect the size and direction the pilot flame. For if it does not touch the thermocouple, thermopile or whatever that little thingy is called that tells the gas valve to allow the gas to flow...it will not tell the gas valvle to let it flow. Remove the corrosion, spiders, spider webs and any other insects then sand the thermocouple, thermopile or whatever that little thingy is with a rough sandpaper to remove corrosion. It will likely work after that.

I had them do the same thing. The gas flow problem caused a week pilot. Any slight breese pulled the pilot off of the thermocouple and out it went.
Pull the gas line off of the pilot and make sure you have good gas pressure when you press the pilot button. If you feel, hear and smell it it is good gas pressure.

Well, I just went out this morning and worked on the heater after it would not light last night. Turns out that a spider or moth set up camp in the pilot light intake housing and plugged up the two small mixer holes that pull in air for the pilot light. This would explain the 'yellow-flame'. I took a punch awl and some compressed air and cleaned out the hole, then re-installed the cover and knob. Lastly, I turned and depressed the knob and the pilot light ignited almost instantly, stayed on when I let the knob up, and the heater turned on normally after that. Good luck, I hope this helps.

There is possibly a spider web or wad of web blocking the gas flow between the valve and pilot.Take the line off between the valve and pilot and blow it out with compressed air and it should fix the problem.