Water heater and hurrah for the internet

The water heater is quite tempremental and has been getting more and more difficult to light.

You light the pilot, wait a while and then turn the knob round before you can have hot water.

You might not remember, but the hacked out hole in the wall we did day 1 in the house because one of the water pipes had rusted through...

Last night it decided not to work. The pilot lit, but went out when Doug turned the knob round - it often doesn't work 1st time but now failed all the times.

He dismantled some parts and cleaned out air vents etc so the pilot burned a bit hotter.

Eventually he gave up in despair and went to bed.

This morning I had vague memories of school physics lessons about thermocouples and consulted the internet a bit. Which gave Doug the motivation to try some more dismantling. Eventually we managed to bend the tip of the thermocouple in to the pilot flame a bit more with the theory it would get hotter and be more likely to work. HurraaaaaaaAAAH now it works. 

The thermocouple is the narrower copper tube at the top of the picture slightly left of center.

Doug is now taking a well deserved shower. Fingers crossed it can manage to keep struggling on until we have new hot water and shower - currently scheduled for December-ish.