Dan Donaldson
>Sometimes it is difficult to relight a hot water heater, especially if you had to open a pipe and get air into the system. I get around this by lighting it with a propane torch. That heats the thermocouple so that the main burner will come on. This will quickly purge any air in the system, keep the thermocouple hot and relight the pilot all in one swell foop. ;-) Much easier that trying to hold that little button down and hoping that it lights before the match runs out.