Mistaken Identity: Help with Kenmore Water Heater

I read a lot of angry stories.When new products are replacing the old ones and no one tells them they are different and how to maintain them there will be problems.All 40and 50 gal. water heaters manufacture after 2003 are FVIR water heaters. the new water heaters need preventive maintance or the pilot light WILL fail. DO NOT alter or modify your water heater in any way. Majority of the problems are caused by a dirty flame arrestor. It's not a matter of if it's going to get dirty,it's a matter of WHEN it's going to get dirty. So search on the Internet for the tool to clean your flame arrestor . It's a water heater vacuum brush called tightspotvacuum. It's will do the job without any other tools required.

We are having the same problem with this product. It is a waste of money, unreliable and has forced us to buy an insurance policy to have it serviced when the pilot goes out. We have had it serviced nearly a dozen times in the 6 years we have owned it.

I'm having the same issue with the pilot not staying lit but I'm going to try to keep it going for a long as I can by cleaning it off like so many have done repeatedly. This site has really opened my eyes. I'm writing though because I really need to know how to REMOVE THE INNER DOOR on the power miser 6 gas water heater (it has the electric pilot start). Please, can anyone provide a detailed description.

You all rock!! I tried to change out the thermocouple assuming that was the problem. I couldnt find anyway to get it out all the way so I googled the problem more specifically and found this link.
I never found where the filters were but I cleaned it out inside and underneath the best that I could.
Finally managed to get the outside nut back together on the thermal couple and gave it a try.

Hot water is on the way as we speak.. lol or type!!

Thanks for all the good advice for dealing with a cronic pos.

Ok here's the simple fix.

1.Turn off your gas.
2. Pry off the little rubber boot going around the main line going into the water heater.
3. Take a screwdriver and gently poke a hole or two through the insulation surrounding the pipe.
4. Turn your gas back on and re-light the pilot according to instructions.

This fix will work as long as your thermocouple and your burner have not been damaged.

From all the posts, I noticed that the pilots are starving for air. It's just me but I'm not going to go in and vaccum out my water heater every couple of weeks or months or whatever. A repairman can't, due to liabilty tell you what I just did. I couldn't keep my heater going longer than 5 minutes without the pilot going out.

The problem with these things is the filter design and placement. I have the feeling that this was a quick fix to make the water heaters comply with the Fed mandate.
Now I think it's just plain old greed on Sear's part to NOT fix it, because of all the service calls they've been receiving.
Sear's used to be a company that had a tremendous reputation for customer satisfaction. Just from looking at the amount of post's here, I'd say that sadly that's not the case anymore. I'm going to write the head honchos at Sear's and give them this link, to this site.
Maybe we can find 1 person who still give's a damn.

I know this is a whole different can of worms, but I see a lot of similarity here with our government..........lol

had to work on a brand new one because SEARS would not be able to warranty their product for TWO WEEKS!! Did all I could do to it and it seems to be ok, I charged them $125.00 The customer needed hot water and is very pissed at SEARS.... They are junk