Homeowners with gas heat and fireplaces...question about that pilot light....

[Lisa loves Pooh]

You don't need a "professional" to do this. You unscrew a couple screws, take the glass outside, wipe with a paper towel (having just done this a month ago after thinking we had smoked glass in our fireplace ). It is super easy to do-just VERY messy.

Lisa-you are in more danger from your pilot light being OUT then you are with it on. If it is out and you have a supply line issue, your gas doesn't get burned off and can fill up your house with gas fumes. Also, if you improperly light the pilot light-sort of like flooding a car engine-you can blow up your house doing THAT too. Keep the pilot light lit, it is DESIGNED to remain on.

Even if the gas to it is shut off?

 

[golfgal]

Even if the gas to it is shut off?

If you have a leak in your supply line, yes-but that isn't anything that is common. You are being overly paranoid about the pilot light. Again, it is DESIGNED to be left on, not turned off and on frequently. You are doing more harm then good.

 

[Mommee]

I can only speak for ours because I've never had one before, but the glass keeps little fingers and stray combustibles out of the fire. It still gets quite warm, hence the screen, though I don't think it is really hot enough to be anything more than uncomfortable to touch (I haven't tested it!).

As far as the heating goes, a gas fireplace is a box within a box. The fire burns in the inner box, while the mechanical bits are between that box and the larger shell. The heat rise from the fire box and comes out into the room via a long, narrow vent that is at the top front between the two boxes, above the glass. On ours (which is rated to heat 2000 sq ft) there is a blower at the back bottom of the outer box that forces more of the heat up and out through that vent.

I'm sure that's clear as mud because I'm no good at explaining these things, but I was quite fascinated by the workings of our fireplace when DH was installing it. It never really crossed my mind that something so relatively small and pretty could heat a house through a Michigan winter.

I burned the back of my hand on ours. I didn't even actually touch it-I was hovering my hand near it to tell the kids not to touch it. After that, I put a fireplace screen in front of it and banned the kids from sitting on the hearth.

 

[Halbleib1]

Huh, this is interesting. My DH told me I could remove the glass last year to clean it. Evidently, if it isn't cleaned periodically, the soot buildup can scratch the glass... or so he told me.

When I tried to remove the glass, it was too heavy for me since I have an achilles tendon where my tricep used to attach to my elbow. I can't lift really heavy things anymore without pain or with ability. Anyway, I had my DS help me. We cleaned it and put it back together again. Piece of cake.

Not to mention that you pay for the gas that allows the pilot to burn. I don't mind paying for it in the winter because the fireplace has a thermastat that turns it on and off, but I don't want to pay any more than I have to in the summer for gas.

We have had a gas furnace for heat since moving to our home 4 years ago and I have never turned the pilot light off. My gas bill in the summer has only ever been the monthly charge (that we pay wheather we use any gas or not) with 0 gas used during those months. Unless perhaps the new furnaces also have electronic ignition in them as others have reported with their stoves etc.

 

[NHdisneylover]

You don't need a "professional" to do this. You unscrew a couple screws, take the glass outside, wipe with a paper towel (having just done this a month ago after thinking we had smoked glass in our fireplace ). It is super easy to do-just VERY messy.

Lisa-you are in more danger from your pilot light being OUT then you are with it on. If it is out and you have a supply line issue, your gas doesn't get burned off and can fill up your house with gas fumes. Also, if you improperly light the pilot light-sort of like flooding a car engine-you can blow up your house doing THAT too. Keep the pilot light lit, it is DESIGNED to remain on.

This is what I have always thought as well. It is much safer to leave it on all the time than to mess with it turning it on and off. Just leave it alone an let it do its job.

 

[golfgal]

We have had a gas furnace for heat since moving to our home 4 years ago and I have never turned the pilot light off. My gas bill in the summer has only ever been the monthly charge (that we pay wheather we use any gas or not) with 0 gas used during those months. Unless perhaps the new furnaces also have electronic ignition in them as others have reported with their stoves etc.

Yes, furnaces have electronic ignition. Our pilot light was blown out by VERY high winds (we didn't know it was out). Our gas bill was the same as it was the month before when the pilot light was on (within a dollar).

 

[Geoff_M]

You also need to know that there's a safety device that will shut off the gas supply if the pilot light goes out. It's a thermocouple that senses the heat of the pilot light flame and as long as there's enough heat it will keep the gas supply "open", it the flame goes out the supply will be automatically shut off by a spring loaded solenoid value. This is why you don't get home explosions after a pilot gets blown out or your neighborhood temporary loses gas pressure due to a service disruption. The solenoid's default position is "closed" so the loss of electrical power will also shut off the gas.

You're life and pocketbook will neither be threatened by your gas pilot.

The "box in a box" is a heat exchanger. Cooler room air is normally drawn into the space between the firebox and the outer box by convection, heated, and then flows back into the room from vents above the firebox. In some models an electric fan helps the process. One of the biggest reasons for this separated design is that it ensures proper venting of carbon monoxide and it prevents draft loss of house air out of the fireplace vent.