The time has finally come. 

Some article I was reading reminded me that I should check the sacrificial anode rod in my water heater every once in a while. A conscientious person should check that about once a year and probably replace the rod every 2-4 years to extend the life of the tank. Well, I have never done that. While looking things over to see how hard it would be, I noticed the date on the sticker that was put on the tank when it was installed. It's now 12 years old. The conventional wisdom is that the life of a storage tank water heater is around 10 years. OK, forget changing the anode rod. I'm replacing this water heater with a tankless natural gas water heater, and that's just a few days away. The new water heater will have electronic ignition, so this whole project for monitoring the pilot light will be moot within a few days from now.

I am doing a small project for remotely triggering the recirculation pump on the new water heater (similar to what I described in an earlier project log, The double duty button, but a lot of details are different). If you want to read about that project, I'm describing it here: Calling for hot water.