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pilot orifice corrosion

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bbushay
bbushay Member Posts: 1
in Gas Heating
I have a seasonal cabin that is in use March through October. It has and Empire propane wall furnace. If I turn off the pilot for the winter the orifice corrodes and will not light with out taking it out for cleaning which is not a trivial task. Do you have any recommendations for something I can spray on the pilot orifice at the end of the season to prevent corrosion when the pilot is turned off?

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  • Larry Weingarten
    Larry Weingarten Member Posts: 3,293
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    Hello, The best (and most work) would probably be to have a spare orifice, kept in a zip-lock bag with some desiccant, so you would have something on hand to replace it with when you arrive at your cabin. The air at the cabin must be humid and maybe even close to salt water? An untested thought is to spray the orifice with WD 40. The WD stands for water displacement if I remember correctly. Spraying oil into a gas burning appliance might have some downsides though. Others will have better, clearer thinking on this. B)

    Yours, Larry
  • HomerJSmith
    HomerJSmith Member Posts: 2,441
    edited July 2022
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    I would try WD40 silicone spray, not the original WD40. Don't over do it. For some reason spiders love nesting in a pilot orifice holder.

    I guess I should mention it--DON'T SPRAY THE ORIFICE WHILE A FLAME IS PRESENT.
  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 15,523
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    I would spray it with regular wd-40. It displaces moisture.

    Workes on light bulbs so they don't get aluminum oxide corrosion on them and is electrically dielectric.

    Don' spray it on a flame, and be there for the first light off in the fall

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