Pilot Light Gas Consumption

Unknown

I was the training supervisor for customer service with Providens Gas (New England Gas) and now National Grid. I left them in 1994 and started Gas Training Institute in Warren, RI.

I have had my present powerpile generator in my furnace for 15 years and it is still fine. There is no need to replace it every year but your service man should test it for output. With the pilot lit holding down the valve in the pilot position and a multimeter set on DC volts or on millivolts (depends on the meter)and the two wires from the generator attached to the meter leads you should get about 750 millivolts (minimum is 540. If less than 600 then change the generator. Do not be suprised that the generator may put out as much as 1,000 millivolts which is good. Keep the pilot lit as it is better for the equipment and the savings is negated by repairs to the equipment due to dampness and rusting in the boiler or furnace.

JohnG_3

Pilot Light Gas Consumption

I have a Weil-McLain EG-40 steam boiler with a standing pilot light. It is also a 750 mV powerpile-based boiler. This summer I had some heating work done and in the course of the work my heating contractor turned off the pilot light. Much to my surprise, my summer gas consumption dropped from 30 therms per month to 15 therms per month. Summer gas consumption consists of a standalone hot water heating and a clothes dryer. It is astounding that the gas consumed by the standing pilot light should be equal to the gas used to heat hot water and dry clothes.

So, what is a normal figure for gas consumption for a standing pilot for a typical steam boiler such as my Weil-McClain EG-40?

[Deleted User]

It depends....

Pilots are also rated in BTUH. Once you know what it is rated for, you can calculate its consumption fairly accurately.

ME

TR

pilot light gas consumption

I have a 16 yr. old Burnham 2 series bolier. HW baseboard heat and standing pilot light. I turned off the pilot June 1 and gas usage dropped from 25-30 CCF down to 10. Summer gas use is for DHW, cooking and a gas clothes dryer.

My savings is $25 per month so by October I will have saved $100 which will help pay for a boiler tune-up. Note: my basement is clean, "conditioned" space so I was not overly concerned about humidity/dust/bugs/etc that can affect the boiler/pilot light. Plus I figure the tune-up will address these problems if they occur.

TR

Unknown

Most natural gas

pilots on boilers use an .018 size orifice. The pilot gas on all systems is not regulated but operates at line pressure usually between 6" W.C. and 10" W.C.

This will figure out depending on the local gas companies charges to about $100 to $130 dollars per year if the pilot is running 24/7.

TR_3

gas pilot light

Tim - welcome back from vacation!

So if a pilot light is burning $100 in four months does this mean it is defective and needs to be replaced? I would think it would clog up as time went by and burn less gas.

My pilot light has a triple flame and sure seems like overkill. The "tech" that serviced the boiler last year said it was normal/fine but it should be noted that his "complete annual service" was simply cleaning the burner tubes and sweeping out the bottom of the combustion chamber.

I just removed the boiler top/jacket and have attached a photo. Care to guess when it was last cleaned?


TR

JohnG_3

By my calculations

15 therms per month comes to just over 2,000 BTUH. I looked in the Weil-McClain manual but did not see any specifications for the pilot light, but 2,000 BTUH is about 2% of the rated output of the boiler. Sounds about right.

JohnG_3

Hot Water

Just as surprising as the pilot using as much gas as the hot water heater and clothes dryer is the fact that heating hot water and drying clothes uses no more gas than the pilot light, i.e. relatively little energy. This makes me a lot less interested in installing an indirect hot water heater or using a clothesline.

Unknown

TR a pilot will

burn gas based on the size of orifice and the BTU content of the gas.

An example is an .018 size natural gas orifice on a pilot at 7 inches water column pressure will burn 1.12 Cubic Feet per hour of gas. That make that pilot at around 1,000 BTU's per hour which is pretty typical. I do not know what your location is and what your cost of gas per therm is. If you do the math on this pilot orifice system I describe then 1.12 X 24 hours = 26.88 per day X 365 days = 9,811 Cubic feet per year.

Some pilots have a larger orifices so that they may have proper igntion of the design of the burners. To reduce it would cause problems both with operation and safety. Pilots are not just thrown into equipment but must pass turn down tests and igntions test requirements along with being able to generate enough heat to hold pilot safeties in.

If your pilot is burning $100 per 4 months might I ask how you determined this? Keep in mind many gas companies charge fees in the bill over and above the actual gas used so if you are basing that on your bill then it may be incorrect as to the actual cubic feet being used.

One of the problems we have with gas service is that many liscensed people who do service are not really properly trained or capable of doing a full annual check on gas equipment. It must include a cleaning and combustion analysis among other things. I was recently in a room with 150 contractors and the presenter ask how many of them owned a CO detector and only about 10 raised their hands. He then asked how many did combustion testing and only three raised their hands and one of them was me so there where only two others. Lack of proper trainng and utilty indifference to proper adjustment of equipment can be blamed for most of this.

By the way 750 millivolt pilot systems have a larger pilot so that they can generate enough millivolts to operatde the gas valve system. It is never a good idea to shut of a powerpile pilot for too long as it may cause you to have to replace the generator come fall. one of the advantages of powerpile is that you can run your system on gravity if there is a power failure. That is the price you pay for that convenience.

TR

Pilot light gas usage

Tim - you sure are the gas expert! Yes, my boiler has a powerpile so that confirms your comment on the higher gas usage by the pilot light. I guess when the power goes out during a blizzard and I switch to manual mode I'll be happier about the extra cost. That's assuming I remember how to switch it and do it right.

A copy of my bill is attahced. I'm here in south county RI. I deducted the $9 customer charge and divided the remainder by the 10 CCF of usage to get my cost per CCF.

I was unaware that periods of nonuse could make the powerpile fail. I suppose it does not matter because the "tech" last year said to replace it every year during the annual service so dead or not it gets tossed if I follow his advice. At $60 a powerpile is not cheap and I saved last year's as a spare. Is there an easy way to test a powerpile to know how much life it has left?

JohnG - we use our clothesline to save gas and not just to save money. I tell my kids that I will do everything I can to reduce our carbon foot print. If the clothesline cost more to use than the gas dryer I might have a tough decision. :-)

TR

Bob Harper

Typical single flame pilot such as a WH ~600-800 BTU/hr
Two or three way flame pilot with TP ~ 1000-1,200 BTU/hr
ODS ventfree pilot ~ 1,600 BTU/hr

an IPI pilot burns at about 1,400-1,600 BTU/hr but that's only while the main burner is on.

You could clock your meter. However, with just the pilot going, you would have to let it run a long time to get an accurate reading.

Yes, Timmie is Da' Man.

HTH
Bob

Unknown

Bob you can clock a pilot by

the increment test dial method and knowing the value of the test dial there is a formula. We used to use it to determine small gas leak consumption for purposes of deducting leakage that was our fault from customers bills.

Jim_163

I also reduced my summer gas bill by doing this

I have a 500K BTU steam boiler, in which I shut off the gas to my pilot for the summer. I went from an average of 3.8 MCF useage to 1.9, during the last several months. I only have a hot water tank running on natural gas. MCF is 1,000 cubic feet. (Im in Northeast Ohio and that's what they use for billing purposes)I was very surprised that I was using basically the same amount for my hot water tank, as with the pilot light. However, I live by myself, take one shower per day, run the washining machine and the dishwaser once per week.
Jim