Water Heater Won't Start

H22A4 said
It’s 6 months shy of being 20 years old; well into bonus time. Do you have a drain nearby for when it does leak? When do plan on replacing it?

Def running on borrowed time. Going to be replaced very shortly. I just want to see if it'll run to tide us over.
It's sitting on a drain pan that has a drain hose running into the crawlspace.

67Dart273 said
EDIT: ARE YOU SURE this has a pilot, or did you happen to look in there as the hot surface ignition device was heating up? (orange glow)

In any case, see if you can post the wiring diagram in a clear manner, even if you have to overlap a couple of photos

BE CAREFUL poking around in there. IF THAT IS a hot surface igniter, they operate off LINE VOLTAGE AKA 120V AC

Yes, it is a pilot.

pt70 said
I don't know if this helps, but my buddy had an old camper up at the lake with a propane powered light over the kitchen table. It was always was hard to start. One day he took it apart and looked inside and found a tiny spider web in there, blew it out. It's been working good since.

I'll check for anything in my skill range.

No luck as to a nest in the stack.

Thanks all. I'm off to check it out...