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How much gas does a pilot light use?


AdamG

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Hi

I've been living aboard for over a year now and each of my 13kg Propane bottles has lasted about 3 months. Pretty good! However, the most recent bottle has only lasted one month - pretty poor!

I have a Rinnai instant water heater on board and the only thing I've done differently is to leave the pilot light for this heater on permanently. Prior to this, I would only turn the pilot light on when I had a shower or did some laundry or some washing up. Obviously, having the pilot light on permanently will use more gas up, but I can't believe that it would use 2 month's worth of gas over a period of one month - if you see what I mean!

Of course, I could have been given a bottle that was only half full or something but I've been reassured that the stockist simply takes deliveries and has empty bottles collected. It's unlikely I've been deliberately short-changed.

So, does anyone have some idea of how much gas having a pilot light on 24/7 might use?

Photo of Rinnai with pilot light lit attached!

Many thanks

IMG_0681.JPG

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Until about 6 months ago I use to leave out paloma on 24/7.Now it is turned off overnight, I reckon we get a week extra from  13KG bottle, so quite a lot.

 

ETA, so we use a bottle a month, so I reckon your 3 months is pretty  good

Edited by rusty69
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We have an alde boiler which is quite heavy on gas and in summer with no central heating on a 12kg bottle lasts 3 weeks with water heating and cooking. We only use the central heating in spring and autumn as the stove is on 24/7 over winter but when we do use the heating a bottle only lasts 2 weeks.

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Just to add...

One of the reasons I left the pilot light on was that the igniter started playing up. For months and months, the igniter would light the pilot light pretty much instantly. But, more recently, I would press the ignition button and the spark thingy wouldn't go. I had to fiddle about with the button, maybe four or five times, before it would work properly. So, I decided to just leave it on...

6 minutes ago, Rickent said:

We have an alde boiler which is quite heavy on gas and in summer with no central heating on a 12kg bottle lasts 3 weeks with water heating and cooking. We only use the central heating in spring and autumn as the stove is on 24/7 over winter but when we do use the heating a bottle only lasts 2 weeks.

Wow! That's horrendous! I don't know how and Alde boiler works - is it similar with a pilot light burning until you need hot water or is the actual boiler on?

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5 minutes ago, AdamG said:

Just to add...

One of the reasons I left the pilot light on was that the igniter started playing up. For months and months, the igniter would light the pilot light pretty much instantly. But, more recently, I would press the ignition button and the spark thingy wouldn't go. I had to fiddle about with the button, maybe four or five times, before it would work properly. So, I decided to just leave it on...

I have a rinnai, the igniter is battery operated and a bit hit and miss, I light the pilot with a match

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1 minute ago, Rickent said:

You have to fire the boiler up to heat a tank of hot water. They are very gas hungry, even more so when the central heating is running as well.

 

Ok, so not quite the same thing... My instant water heater has a pilot light no bigger than a candle flame, really. I have no idea how to measure how much gas this uses...

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2 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

I have a rinnai, the igniter is battery operated and a bit hit and miss, I light the pilot with a match

Oh, I didn't realise ti was a battery. Thought it was wired into the 12v system. Perhaps I'll take the cover off and have a look!

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2 minutes ago, AdamG said:

Oh, I didn't realise ti was a battery. Thought it was wired into the 12v system. Perhaps I'll take the cover off and have a look!

Dunno about yours(but the pic looks similar).The battery IIRC is housed in a plastic box, D cell I think

Edited by rusty69
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1 minute ago, Gareth E said:

I have a Morco. From experience I'd suggest the pilot light will eat a 13KG bottle of gas in around 8 weeks. Definitely worth turning it off!

Wow! Really? That would certainly account for the gas being hoovered up. I've installed a brand new 13kg bottle today. I'm tempted to leave the pilot light on, just to see if this bottle only lasts a month as well  - which would prove the point. On the other hand, I can't really afford to get through a bottle of gas a month! 

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1 hour ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

My mate used to be a pilot.

He worked for Calor Gas....

 

God the old ones are the best, innit!

That must be a good bottle of wine you're quaffing there Mike.

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The other, or additional, possibility is that you didn't get a good seal when you put that last cylinder on and it was dribbling gas away all the time. How carefully do you check for gas tightness after you've changed cylinders?

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Hello, we have the same water heater and also found high gas use when the pilot was left on. Have just checked the manual but no information on how gas much is used in stand by as it were.  Here is their UK contact number, 01928 531870. If you have a spare five minutes a quick call would give definite answer.

Garry.

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Interesting debate.

I have previously calculated that an Electrolux / Dometic type fridge should (on its own) empty a 13KG cylinder in around 42 days, and that seems to be borne out by practical experience.

The flame in a pilot light in an instantaneous water heat appears to be not dissimilar to that in one of those fridges, so I can well believe they get through it quite fast.

I really must try not to leave it running, but although ours always lights eventually, you need to hold the button in a long while, so it's a pain to relight every time you need small quantities of hot water.

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I have exactly the same w/heater as the OP.  A while ago I was remarking to someone at the marina how we get through gas much more quickly when we are on the marinas as opposed to cruising and I couldn't figure out why.  If anything it should be the other way round as we use the marina showers and laundry when we are there. Then it occurred to me that we always extinguish the pilot light when on the move.  I think it makes a huge difference.        

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5 hours ago, BruceinSanity said:

The other, or additional, possibility is that you didn't get a good seal when you put that last cylinder on and it was dribbling gas away all the time. How carefully do you check for gas tightness after you've changed cylinders?

With the propane "pol" brass fitting, we had a bad seal, I always use the gas leak spray, and it bubbled away quite happily. It was a new cylinder, and the regulator sealed ok on the spare cylinder. It was suggested on a canal forum that I just used a bigger spanner, and a bigger and bigger hammer to solve the problem,  I thought with advice like this... best find another forum.

What I did find was a propane regulator with a rubber type seal, that only uses a finger wheel to tighten the regulator. This sealed first time, and on subsequent changes, I always use the gas leak spray, and the gas locker no longer smells of gas, and the gas bottle lasts considerably longer. 

However, I have still not had confirmation as to whether this type of regulator is BSS approved or not, but I sleep better at night knowing that there is no gas escaping into my self draining gas locker.  Still better than waiting for an overtightened brass gas fitting to fracture.

We also have a paloma, the pilot is shut off after each use, as said it probably consumes the same amount of gas as the gas fridge, We also have a propex warm air heating system, but it is autoignition, so uses no gas on standby. 

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11 hours ago, alan_fincher said:

Interesting debate.

I have previously calculated that an Electrolux / Dometic type fridge should (on its own) empty a 13KG cylinder in around 42 days, and that seems to be borne out by practical experience.

The flame in a pilot light in an instantaneous water heat appears to be not dissimilar to that in one of those fridges, so I can well believe they get through it quite fast.

I really must try not to leave it running, but although ours always lights eventually, you need to hold the button in a long while, so it's a pain to relight every time you need small quantities of hot water.

 

Yes the pilot light will burn much the same amount of gas as a gas fridge.

There is something wrong with your water heater then Alan. You mean the Morco in Flamenco?

Both my Morcos need the button holding in for only about 5-7 seconds to get the pilot to hold. 

 

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