Ao smith water gas water heater: Pilot light is lit but burner does not light. There is no light on the water heater. Hello, i have an ao smith gcv 40 water heater. There used to be a problem with it where the pilot wouldn't stay lit for more than 15 minutes after i would light it and turn the heater on. I have taken very good care of them, i flush them once a year, change the anode rods as needed, keep them. I had a handyman come in and change the thermocouple on the water heater too, it still wont light. The igniter is working as we see the initial spark but then it dies down when we click the. With this in mind, here are the most common reasons that a pilot won't light or won't stay lit and what you can do about them. There is residual gas inside the unit. Let an ao smith rep repair it. You would only be charged labor. But if that heater was kicking off from the thermal switch, that would need to be reset manually. I tried lighting in following the directions on the water heater and it will not light. After peeking through the little window, i see the pilot is lighting, but once i remove my finger. Nevermind that the click starter does not work, but to get around that, i manually lit the pilot, and everything was fine, but. Smith water heater won't stay on. I have an a. o. smith model gcv 50 100, 50 gallon natural gas water heater that will not stay lit and the pilot goes out. I timed it and there. It's the piece of metal coming out of the white insulator. It looks atrocious and it should be shined up! If you really want to keep the water heater going, consider replacing the. The status red light stopped blinking and the water heater quit heating water. So i attempted to light the pilot doing the following: Turned the control knob to pilot and pressed. I have a 2 years old a o smith gnr 50 200 water heater. After my vacation, the pilot light went out. I have replaced the thermocouple and cleaned the flame arrestor, but the. I have an ao smith water heater and the pilot suddenly won't stay lit. I don't have any difficulty getting the pilot light lit as some other users have indicated. I can hold the button down for a.