Welcome! Here are the website rules, as well as some tips for using this forum.
Need to contact us? Visit https://heatinghelp.com/contact-us/.
Click here to Find a Contractor in your area.

Spring Shutdown Soon

bobbob
bobbob Member Posts: 70
in THE MAIN WALL
Getting ready to shut down my NG boiler for the summer. Pros and Cons as whether to shut off pilot, or leave it on. What do you experts say?

Comments

  • hot_rod
    hot_rod Member Posts: 23,379
    In a space that is humid? the pilot will help keep insides from sweating and rusting.
    Bob "hot rod" Rohr
    trainer for Caleffi NA
    Living the hydronic dream
    kcopp
  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 16,470
    I vote for on.
  • delcrossv
    delcrossv Member Posts: 1,333
    On.
    Trying to squeeze the best out of a Weil-McLain JB-5 running a 1912 1 pipe system.
  • EdTheHeaterMan
    EdTheHeaterMan Member Posts: 9,378
    edited April 2022
    Depends. (Not the adult diaper)
    I would forget to turn off the pilot on my home on seventh street in Philadelphia. The gas bill would remind me. The pilot on the 1940's American Standard gravity hot water boiler was probably too big, but it worked and I was an oil heat man at the time and knew little about gas heat. The basement was dry and there was no condensation on the cast iron over the summer. I do remember trying to brush clean between the pins of the CI sections, and realized that they were probably never brushed in the 30 plus years it was in that basement, and they didn't need brushing Gas is clean! Oil was dirty. But that was the 1970s

    However, if you have a damp basement, and the pilot is not too big, then you might be better off leaving it on.

    Mr.Ed

    Edward Young Retired

    After you make that expensive repair and you still have the same problem, What will you check next?

  • PC7060
    PC7060 Member Posts: 1,443
    edited April 2022
    What Ed said.  The pilot light on my old 140KBTU CI New Yorker boiler was stupidly large and burned about $15 month in summer. It was large enough to keep the large internal tank at 160F with no load on system. I learned to kill the pilot on that thing. Relighting was part of the fall pre season check.  

    Don’t miss that beast.

    The new 80KBTU Modcon with indirect hot water tank costs less now while suppling all DHW. 
  • bobbob
    bobbob Member Posts: 70
    It has a very large pilot flame. Wow! I don't want it costing $15 or more per month. My basement does get pretty dank in the summer. Decisions decisions...
  • PC7060
    PC7060 Member Posts: 1,443
    Let it run a month and see what happens.
  • HVACNUT
    HVACNUT Member Posts: 6,329
    bobbob said:
    It has a very large pilot flame. Wow! I don't want it costing $15 or more per month. My basement does get pretty dank in the summer. Decisions decisions...
    Dehumidifier 
    EdTheHeaterMan
  • EdTheHeaterMan
    EdTheHeaterMan Member Posts: 9,378
    edited April 2022
    HVACNUT said:


    bobbob said:

    It has a very large pilot flame. Wow! I don't want it costing $15 or more per month. My basement does get pretty dank in the summer. Decisions decisions...

    Dehumidifier 

    ^^^Yea, What He Said ^^^

    That humidity can't be good for the other things in the basement, Like the floor joists and sub-flooring above. Is there a Washer and dryer down there? Storing anything like important papers that can get moldy?

    Edward Young Retired

    After you make that expensive repair and you still have the same problem, What will you check next?

  • reggi
    reggi Member Posts: 523
    I gave up my 100 Watt incandescent light bulbs and it hasn't felt right since.(the basement) The boiler has been in a tad short of 60 years and I don't have a crystal ball, but I'd predict it wouldn't be here today if it was turned off for 5-6 months every year... so I'm a pilot on guy .
    One way to get familiar something you know nothing about is to ask a really smart person a really stupid question

Categories