How much lp does a pilot light use

Sophisticated fireplace manufactures like Travis Industries have developed Intermittent pilot light systems. Travis Industries calls their system, GreenSmart. This system allows you to run your fireplace in either standing pilot mode — where the pilot flame continually stays on, ideal during periods of extreme cold when a draft is needed for safe, proper operation — or in the GreenSmart mode, where the pilot flame ignites via an intermittent pilot spark that does not run continually and thus conserves energy when the fireplace is not being operated.

This, in turn , makes the gas valve shut off. How many gallons of propane does a pilot light use? Category: home and garden home appliances. Can a pilot light cause carbon monoxide? Are pilot lights always on? Should pilot light be turned off in summer? How much propane does a pilot light use in a month?

How big should my pilot light be? Can a pilot light flame be adjusted? Adjusting the Pilot Flame. Is it OK to leave gas fireplace on overnight? Does pilot light go out when power goes out? Is it dangerous if the pilot light goes out? Should the pilot light always be on in a gas fireplace? Are pilot light stoves safe?

Lizhu Sassoon Professional. Should pilot light be turned off in summer? As the weather warms up, it is time to put your gas fireplaces and furnaces to rest for the summer. Since it will be several months before you need to fire up the heat again, it is worth considering turning off your system's pilot light. Abba Zumborn Professional. Is it dangerous if the pilot light goes out? The worry here is that when a pilot goes out , the gas valve that supplies the fuel for the pilot flame could still be pumping gas.

This can mean a buildup of gas, and when the pilot is relit or relights itself it could result in a very serious explosion. Humbelina Mollersmann Explainer. Is it OK to leave gas fireplace on overnight? It usually runs all night. However, unvented gas fireplaces aka vent free, ventless can adversely affect indoor air quality and shouldn't be used more than a few hours at In most cases, if your fireplace was installed properly, you can leave it on indefinitely. Betania Ciemnoczolowsk Explainer.

Can a pilot light flame be adjusted? Adjusting the Pilot Flame. Ahmedou Schwan Pundit. How do I light the pilot on my fireplace? Hold the gas control button down while you hold the end of a lighted match or lighter at the end of the pilot tube. The pilot should start as soon as the flame is close enough. I was wondering if in general I turn the pilot light off for the summer but switched it back on again for a day or two every month, would that help prevent the presence of spider webs, etc.

In theory it could, but it would only take a day or two for it to get in and spin a web, so it could be all about timing. There is no way to know for sure. I would only use it during the summer ithe beach house is not winterized , and sleeping there in the summer is quite chilly.

In an earlier post you warned about not having a ventlesss fireplace in a bedroom or small space. Do I need to worry about that given the size of my room and that it is quite drafty? Thanks in advance, Cora. I speak of codes in MA. Not sure of the size of tank you would need. I would talk to a local propane company about it. The repair is usually fairly quick. They have to pull out the pilot hood and the blockage is usually right there.

Sometimes it can be further down in the pilot tube which can take more time to clear out. This is a safety concern for sure. My husband immediately shut off the pilot light…but reading about the spiders, and we have lots in NC is also a concern. Jus wondering your opinion on this-they guy that installed it seems to think the fireplaces ignite on their own like this all the time???? Does the fireplace have a remote control to operate it.

Occasionally fireplaces can be turned on through other devices, such as neighbor garage door openers or even another fireplace in the neighborhood that uses a remote. The frequencies could be crossing. You should be able to change the frequency on the remote control either through physical dip switches or through a reprogram. Your instructions should show you how, or call up the company that installed it for you. We see it from time to time. Usually it works right away, but it could require two changes.

Hi, we shut the gas off in our fireplace for the summer months and a few hours later there was a sweet burning smell coming from the fireplace. Nothing is burning and the gas is shut off, just a smell. The smell sort of reminds me of the training smoke a fire department uses to teach children fire safety at school if that helps at all. I hope the smell went away. If it was to persist you should call a local professional. I own a retail business in Middleboro art gallery that has a gas log fireplace.

This thread has done a lot to ease my concerns. I bought this house a little over a year ago and was unable to get the propane stove turned on. Had a service technician come. I will add that the pilot light is quite large. What to do? Cannot call anyone until morning.

I hope everything worked out. The gas fireplaces do have many ways to turn off the gas, and if you ever smell gas you should turn off the shutoff. A fitting could have come loose. I turned off in June completly. Pilot lights fine and will stay lit. I turn the know to on and it stays on. Regardless of the wall switch. I feel I am doing something wrong. Any thoughts? If you have a standing pilot unit, the pilot will stay lit all the time.

Pilots are typically pretty big, so that does not sound alarming. I am really not sure what your question is. If it is about turning on the fireplace then there is one more step.

One the pilot is on and the knob turned to the on position, then there is usually either a wall switch or remote control which you must turn on for the main burner to ignite.

Well the pilot should stay on, not the main burner. It sounds like you have a standing pilot unit, which would keep the pilot on when the fireplace is off. I have a ventless fireplace that the pilot is always on.

It depends on the valve it has. Most gas fireplaces have a safety pilot which stops the flow of gas if the pilot goes out, but without knowing the unit it is very tough to tell. If you want to know for sure you can look up the model information and ask the manufacturer. With a recent storm with wind driven rain the rain leaking in the closed chimney put out the pilot light on my gas logs. Luckily I was having them replaced the next week.

The technician implied that if gas logs burner got wet it should be replaced. With the new set I can turn off the pilot with the remote. Kathy, YOu may wan to have someone come out to inspect where the leak is coming from. If there is too much water the log set and burner will rust out and should be replaced. I would recommend fixing the problem rather than just trying to protect the logs with aluminum foil.

How many hours at a time can I burn my gas log fireplace? Will burning it longer than six hours at one time affect anything?

It is diffucult to say without knowing your unit, but most fireplaces you can run without any issues for long periods of time. If it is a direct vent i think you should be fine. I cannot speak to vent free though, I do not know it too well.

If you are worried about it I would read the instruction manual to see if the manufacturer has anything written about it.

Fortunately, it does a great job when the power goes out but it would be nice to be able use the family room with the fireplace going.

It seems to be using more propane than our previous gas log set on the lowest setting. Have you heard of this problem and is there a solution short of replacing it again? Is this part adjustable? Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience with your readers. Some gas logs have adjustable flame heights. It sounds like even on low yours is doing a great job of heating.

I am assuming there is an adjustable flame height that you have all the way down. If that is the case, then there is not much more you can do short of replacing the log with something that offers less heat BTU.

I would also imagine that this is a vent free unit then. Most vented gas logs will not provide that type of heat. My propane fireplace will light and the unit will heat up my cabin. By thermostat, when the cabin heats up to temp, it will then go to pilot. When the cabin cools, the thermostat will then call for more heat and my fireplace flares-up in a small explosion. Any ideas on where I should start to troubleshoot? I would have that fireplace serviced asap.

Fireplaces should start without a bang. They should be relatively quiet on startup. Propane by nature is a heavy gas so it sounds like there is something delaying the pilot flame from igniting the main burner. It could be that the ember material is either too thin or too thick around the pilot, or that there is a clog in the main part of the burner nearest the pilot, so the gas is building up and then igniting with a bang.

If this continues to go on and on then you may run into problems like the glass cracking. I would get it looked at by a professional right away. What a great website! So my gas fireplace works just fine but is it normal for there to be some constant noise when the pilot remains on but the fireplace switch is off?

If you have an open gas log set where you can reach right into the fireplace and touch the logs, it is not uncommon to hear the pilot. They are pretty powerful. It should be perfectly safe. There are small adjustments that can be made to the pilot, but it may not change the noise very much.

I mistakenly left my pilot light to my propane fireplace running for two days. How much of an extra charge should I expect on my bill when I receive it. I was using my propane fireplace this evening and then when I turned it off, the pilot went out also. Do I need to light it back up or can I leave it off for the night? I would really need to know what kind of fireplace you have to answer that correctly. I think it may be ok though. I use it on very cold days, months a year. I turn pilot off after each use, too afraid my home might catch fire!!

When in use during day,if it gets too hot, I use the switch to turn it off, then back on again when it cools off. Your thoughts on that. Thank you! Most gas fireplaces that are designed to have a standing pilot should be safe enough to leave the pilot going. But it is up to you as to whether or not you feel safe.

You may be able to get a set of glass doors for the fireplace as well, if that would make you feel better about leaving it on, but you would have to remember to open the glass doors when your used the fireplace or you could damage the unit. You would need to check the manual for the gas fireplace first to see if that is an option.

Other than that, it is up to you. Our pilot light on our gas fireplace went out, we turned the knob on the bottom to off. Is there anything else we should go. The switch on the wall near the fire place was on off. That should be fine. There is sometimes a gas shutoff you can turn off too. YOu could also try relighting the pilot by following the instructions on the unit.

Great source of info! I leave the pilot on all year long. Is it normal? Should the flame be blue? Could the wind outside affect the colour of the pilot? Most pilots are blue toward the base and yellow at the tips. Most of the time the fire in the fireplace will be blueish near the bottom too. The pilot light is out on my gas fireplace. The knob is turned to the off position and the key on the floor next to the fireplace is also turned to the off position. Is it safe to be in the house over night like this with the pilot out?

Used the fireplace on Christmas day for about 5 hours no usage any other time of the year. Is it possible the fireplace could use 84 more units than the previous month with only 5 hours of use for the total month? Not that seams way off. It would have to be something else. The biggest gas fireplaces I know of would only be able to add maybe 1 therm per hour. I have a propane gas firplace vented. I seem to be using a lot of propane.

The flame is really really large. I know that seems odd because most people want a big flame. My concern is does the size of the flame make me use more propane. I really cannot let you know without knowing what the fireplace is. One thing that really stood out to me while reading this article was that you need to make sure that everything is installed correctly because you do not want your carbon monoxide to leak.

My husband and I are definitely thinking about putting in a fireplace into our new home, but we definitely want to make sure that the lines are installed properly. Thanks again!

My apartment has a vented natural gas fireplace. I kept getting a white film on my furniture and even on silverware and ziplock baggies just brought home. I cleaned everything with water and then turned on fireplace for 6 hours…white film came back. There is no glass on fireplace and flames are the correct color. My eyes and skin are burning…what kind of chemical could this be? Carbon monoxide detector is new and not going off, apt. Where could I get this white film analyzed?

It sounds like something is wrong there. I would have a professional come out and take a look at it. It could be a lot of things. If the unit is new, it could be the initial burn off.

If it is older, the door may be not latched properly. I would call a professional company come out and take a look at it. Hello my husband and I just bought a brand new house in another state.

We have a gas fireplace that has a pilot light that stays lit. My husband is afraid that when I do have it turned on and we are not there at the time. That the gas will build up in the fireplace and our home. What do you think we should do? Hi Kay, Most gas fireplaces have a safety pilot, meaning that if the flame pulls away from the pilot sensor for even a half second it stops the flow of gas through the gas valve. So if gas was turned off in the house, the pilot would drop out, triggering the safety and stopping the gas flow, and then would not be allowed to flow through the valve until someone tried to relight it by turning the pilot knob into a very specific position and depressing it.

I cannot speak for all systems but this is typically how they work. I think you should be fine. We get a small odor of propane when turning switch on pilot is already on. Just for 30 to 60 seconds, then no more odor. Is this just a normal mechanism till the flame catches up the entire way around the feeder tube, which only takes seconds.

Michael, it is hard to say. It could be from what you say, although you may want someone to check it out. Ideally you should not be smelling anything. It sounds like it is ok to leave the pilot light on with both the glass doors and flue closed.

Is that right? It should be fine to leave the pilot on, but the doors must be open when the fireplace is on. If not you could overheat the gas valve and damage it. Thanks for the tips. Help me decide!!! I am replacing a wood burning insert with natural gas insert in a small home in Pacific Northwest. I am not worried about saving money on the gas a pilot uses, but the MV system is cheaper.

Thank you!!!! Lori, the nice thing about IPI or at least all the models I deal with is that it stands for Intermittent Pilot Ignition, meaning that you can switch between standing pilot or electronic ignition. If you go with an IPI model, you can just leave the pilot on in the cold months, if you so choose. We recommend it for people here in Massachusetts.

Fireplaces tend to work better when the pilot is on all the time. It is sort of like priming the engine. But with MV the only way to turn the pilot on and off is by doing it manually at the gas valve. Most IPI we deal with have the ability to control the pilot from the remote control if it is a Proflame 2 system, which is what we see a lot. Hi, I think I would like to turn the pilot light of my Vermont Castings propane fireplace off for the summer.

My question is, how do I know which direction to turn it? That should be the shutoff valve. It should only turn one way. The valve should be perpendicular to the intake line when it is in the OFF position. You should contact your local dealer and have them service the fireplace. It sounds like some sort of bad connection. I would have it serviced before using it. I am going out of town for an extended period of time. Sometimes, our fireplace turns on for no reason.

He had me turn the pilot knob in the pilot position when I am gone. Is this ok? Or is gas building up? That is fine. In the pilot position, it will not let the fireplace turn on. It just keeps the fireplace pilot going. Ask your dealer how to do that. It differs from remote to remote. Hi, I have a Lennox fire place.

The glass is warm to the touch and there is a white film on the glass. Should I worry about it? I have no idea how to open the glass or what to do.

Thank You. If you never noticed it before then there are probably two things that could have happened. It was always there and you never noticed, or 2. Fireplaces tend to run better if the pilot is on all the time, but if you like it without the pilot I would contact the company that serviced it and they should be able to walk you through it.

Sometimes it can be done just from the remote control. Just moved into a house with gas stove and a flue with a powered extractor. They previous owners left the pilot on.

Hi Dave, I am not sure what you mean by powered extractor. I would need a make and model to be able to tell what you are talking about. I just moved into a home with a gas fireplace, so thanks for sharing this. I have a question, thank you for keeping this open and answering still! Today, I turned on my gas fireplace pilot, no problem, with nice flame, but when I turned knob to On after lighting the pilot, the flame goes way down.

During lighting it was aflame, like normal, then goes back down when turn knob to On. Sorry if that was repitisous but I wanted to be as clear as possible to get an answer. Hi Denise, Typically the pilot will be very strong. Once you turn main burner on, it is not uncommon for the pilot flame to shrink a little bit, but not too much.