Pizza Oven Pilot Won't Stay Lit Once the Knob Is Released

What it
usually means.

A pilot is a small, steady flame that proves to the gas valve that lighting the burner is safe. A thermocouple, or on some models a thermopile, sits in that flame; as it heats it makes a tiny current that holds a magnet in the valve open. Let go of the knob before it is hot and the magnet drops and the gas stops. The same happens if the pilot flame is too small to wrap the tip, or if something keeps knocking it aside. Outdoor ovens face wind: a breeze straight across the mouth of a countertop or built-in oven can snuff a pilot that works fine on a calm evening. Deck ovens in a pizzeria meet it differently, with the constant opening and closing of doors at dinner rush and flour dust settling in the pilot orifice. Heat takes its toll too: thermocouples wear out, and their connection at the valve loosens. When the pilot will not hold, the safety valve is doing its job by shutting the gas; nothing should be done to hold that valve open by other means.