The pilot light of your gas appliance serves several purposes. It provides means of lighting the main burner of the appliance, as well as the ability to operate the fire with a switch or remote control. On most pilot assemblies you will find a thermocouple and a thermopile. Both of these provide small amounts of electricity (mV) when heat is applied to the tip of them. This electricity powers a small electromagnet inside the valve which holds the gas in the open position. When the electricity drops (thermocouple or thermopile cooled down, pilot went out), The gas valve is closed. This shuts off the gas in the event of a pilot outage.

     The thermopile's purpose is to provide the electricity to the main burner valve. When you operate your switch or remote control, you are simply closing the circuit. Allowing power to flow to the main burner valve which opens the gas flow and fires the main burner. If the pilot isnt lit, the unit will do nothing, this is because the valve has no electricity to open the main burner or keep the pilot lit (if the pilot isnt lit all gas is shutoff to the valve).

     The millivoltage (mV) inside these valves is not enough to shock you. Never proceed to service a gas appliance if you are not comfortable or capable of doing the work.