Reliance 501 gas water heater won't stay lit

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I have a Reliance 501 that was installed in my loft in NYC by the previous tenant and it won't light up and stay lit. The pilot lights without a problem and will stay lit, but when I try to turn up the gas, it lights up but then goes out within 10-15 seconds (like the flame is getting blown out).

The water heater is about 6 years old, but my guess is that it is being caused by inadequate venting - it is on the first floor, and the vent pipe goes up at a steep angle and out the wall at about 10 feet and then right-angles outside the building immediately and has a cover on it there.

This has happened before when it was very cold (5 degrees tonight) and it usually would light up fine when it warmed up a little. There is a serious cold draft in the vent pipe at the top of the heater (incoming) which seems to increase when it is cold, and I was wondering if the lack of a long exterior vent pipe could be contributing to this problem?

I cleaned out the area around the burner assembly and checked the nozzle - does anyone think that the cold air being sucked into the house is the problem, and could that be caused by too short of a vent pipe on the outside of the building?

If not any other ideas besides replacement would be appreciated...