Does anyone turn the pilot light off either at night, or just when not in use? I now turn mine off at night, on in the morning then 15 mintues later I'm redy for a shower. I have a friend who only turns the pilot light on for an hour in the evenings for washing up and bathing, and has saved just shy of £90 in a year. Make sure you know how to turn it back on though. Otherwise the plumber callout fee may exceed your savings
From Wikipedia for people (like me) that don't know what a pilot light is: A pilot light is a small gas flame, usually natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas, which is kept alight in order to serve as an ignition source for a more powerful gas burner. Common applications include household water heaters, central heating systems, gas fireplaces, flamethrowers, and hot air balloons. While most commercial kitchens still rely on pilot lights for burners, ovens, and grills, current residential systems typically use an electrical ignition. More commonly known as standby on modern remote control fires.During the American colonial period, people kept a small flame called a "pilot" burning in order to quickly light a fire for a fireplace or for a cooking stove.
I wouldn't do this myself. That's not to say that my water heater won't do it for me. About a few months back during a constant rain storm the pilot light on our water heater went out. Because we have a model that makes it next to impossible to get anywhere near the pilot light on it, all we could do is constantly try to reignite it with the dial. It took well over 24 hours before we finally got the water heater lit once more. So, no I wouldn't under any circumstances mess with the pilot light on my water heater.
Nope, we don't. We do turn it off for the furnace at the end of each season. There's no reason for it to be going in the summertime, of course. I don't bother turning it out every day or anything, though. No thanks. That would be a pain in the butt for me.
My pilot is always on, I don't think it is so expensive and to be honest my heater is very old, a Junkers with about 30 years old, so I avoid messing too much with it. I don't really know how much that costs me for month, but I don't believe it's more than just some cents and if I ruin my heater I expect to pay a lot for a new one and possibly have more consumption.
I have to say that this makes no sense to me. I would be more afraid of someone turning on the oven, not knowing that the pilot is out, letting gas emit and then either trying to light it and blowing up the place or them just dying from the gas leaking.
I have a pilot light on my gas stove/oven and I never touch it because as much as I hate my current apartment, I don't want to blow it up.
I always leave mine on as well. For me, there is just too much work turning it back on, I guess I'm just lazy. Anyways, I can see how it could save a little bit of money, but I don't see the point of turning it off every day and having to turn it back on later, That could cause some maintenance issues if it happened too often.
Turn thermostat down For many types of gas appliances the pilot light seems to be a safety issue. Not having the pilot light lit can be hazardous for many devices. Some heaters or stoves can be very difficult to relight. On your water heater you can just turn the thermostat down. Pilot lights consume very little gas. Turning the pilot light off on a water heater saves money by preventing the heater from cycling on when hot water is not being consumed. Put a water heater blanket on you water heater and turn the temperature down when it wont be used.
It seems to me the initial poster was referring to the water heater and not the stove/oven a few people cited. I can understand the argument. Turn it off when not in use taking into account you would have to turn it on a few hours before intending to use hot water. It's not a bad idea. It just seems people would be averse to the hassle of it. Especially if their water heater is in a basement and they are just getting out of bed to take a shower and go to work.
When I was in my old house the pilot light would stay on. It was just be a pain the but to light it all over again. One time the pilot light went off during winter. It took us well over 9 hours of constant trial and error to get it going again. I would rather spur the cost then go without the heat. Thank God my new house doesn't have gas as our main source.
