Please help. I have a power vented water heater. The control cable went bad due to some other problem. I know this because I bought a new cable and it worked fine for a day and it too went bad. I can jumper out #3 and #4 to make everything work but to do this means I have to turn the power venter to "On" and the gas to "On". Then after about 45 minutes, I have to make sure the gas is put back on "Pilot" and the Power Vent switch back to "Off" otherwise it would just continue to run.

Hello, DIY gurus. I don't like to clutter up forums with useless posts; I've read numerous articles and the FAQs here, and I believe I know the answer to my question, but when it comes to messing with gas and fire safety, I'd rather ask an obvious question and be safe instead of sorry! I have a Kenmore Power Miser that has had numerous problems keeping its pilot lit over the past 3 years. in that time, a plumber has been out repeatedly and replaced the burner once and the thermocouple twice. Last year, he raised the question of it being a gas supply problem, so we had PG&E out to test. The tech who visited said, "Your supply is fine, but I see this all the time -- it's a clogged vent at the bottom. Swipe a refrigerator coil brush under the bottom to clean that ceramic screen and you should be good to go." We did that and, voila, the water heater worked well for another 10 months. We'd brushed it out twice a year, but it started acting finicky about a month ago, and even though we've brushed it out several times lately, now it will only stay lit long enough to heat the water to temperature. It no longer self-starts and has to be relit manually. I tend to doubt it's the thermocouple (again! already!), and suspect a dirty burner. The flames are quite yellow when the pilot is manually relit, but eventually go down to more of a blue. Anyway, I'd like to try to take out the burner and give it a good clean. I've never actually done that before (my only DIY experience with the unit is draining/flushing the tank and, as mentioned, relighting the pilot using its control/ignitor switch. I've read the articles, I know what to do -- turn off the heater, let it cool and gas dissipate, remove the access panel, take out the burner, etc. My question is this: When I turn the water heater's control knob to "OFF" position, does that adequately shut off the gas? Or do I have to turn the valve that's built into the gas pipe? Thank you so much for your help!