OT - Should I turn off Pilot Light on propane Boiler during the summer?

Richard King · Jun 29, 2019

Hi everyone. I have a boiler at my lake cabin and it's 30 years old and still uses a pilot. It burns Propane gas. I had a plumber tune it up last fall and he put in a new thermocouple, new air tank and I forgot to ask him. I checked and propane is about $1.50 a gallon. I was thinking it's above freezing here from Middle of May to the Middle of October. ??

gustafson · Jun 29, 2019

Yeah, its a waste, I cannot think it is a big deal to shut it off, more a nuisance to restart

How are you getting hot water?

Ponder how you are going to do these things when this boiler dies, there are so many more efficient options these days

Richard King · Jun 29, 2019

I have a separate water heater and it make a bubbling noise...lol maybe every 2 min I get a noise like like someone is hitting an aluminum boat with a chunk of wood. I will shut of the gas and light it in the fall. I better put it on my calendar to light it. Thanks

gustafson · Jun 29, 2019

Yeah, pile of crud at the bottom of the tank. insulates water from flame, gets hot, repeat.

Its on its way out. If it is not a fancy cabin drill a hole in the floor for the water to escape when it dies.

janvanruth · Jun 29, 2019

thermocouples have the habit of dying while he boiler is turned off for a longer period
you better keep a spare in the cabin

CalG · Jun 29, 2019

I shut the gas off on the wall hanging heater that warms my shop space. Bats moved in through the vent and air intake. The droppings rusted out the inside over a single season. (Given, the unit had some years on it) Almost, coulda, might've, had a fire!

I run the pilot all year round now. Plus it prevents condensation on the critical parts.

CarbideBob · Jun 29, 2019

janvanruth said:
thermocouples have the habit of dying while he boiler is turned off for a longer period

Why? They live on the hardware store shelf okay forever.
Pilots don't use a whole bunch of money per month but if you have many it may add up.
Is the hot water on the same? If so do you kill that in the cabin?
Since it will not light up how much money will you save verses the inconvenience.
Yes it is a waste of money, as is buying a cup of coffee at the gas station on the way into work.
Old pilot furnaces in my back room and I do shut them down but I think it mostly a feel good thing.
I'm all for killing this but do you winterize the cabin or watch the low night temps there?
Bob

CalG · Jun 29, 2019

That first heating burns off the protective coating.... ;-)

CarbideBob · Jun 29, 2019

CalG said:
That first heating burns off the protective coating.... ;-)

That is strange and seems to ignore how they work.
In time you build that insulating carbon or or other "soot" coat which is why sometimes you can just clean them.
You do not have thermocouples that have gone 40+ years with shut downs? I think the protective coating went away a long time ago.
Yes some of them do not make it past the ten-fifteenth year and a replace is 10-15 dollars so why bother with a clean.
Bob

CalG · Jun 29, 2019

CarbideBob said:
That is strange and seems to ignore how they work.
In time you build that insulating carbon or or other "soot" coat which is why sometimes you can just clean them.
You do not have thermocouples that have gone 40+ years with shut downs? I think the protective coating went away a long time ago.
Yes some of them do not make it past the ten-fifteenth year and a replace is 10-15 dollars so why bother with a clean.
Bob

Bob, though I feel you may have missed the smiling emoticon in my comment, I truly wonder where you are getting those $10-$15 thermocouples for gas burners. The last two I purchased were north of $90 each.

Empire wall heater, let me know your source!

Bill D · Jun 30, 2019

I turn off my floor furnace every spring. At my old duplex it saved about $3.50 per month in NG cost. That cost was 15 years ago.
Bil lD

janvanruth · Jun 30, 2019

CarbideBob said:
Why? They live on the hardware store shelf okay forever.
Pilots don't use a whole bunch of money per month but if you have many it may add up.
Is the hot water on the same? If so do you kill that in the cabin?
Since it will not light up how much money will you save verses the inconvenience.
Yes it is a waste of money, as is buying a cup of coffee at the gas station on the way into work.
Old pilot furnaces in my back room and I do shut them down but I think it mostly a feel good thing.
I'm all for killing this but do you winterize the cabin or watch the low night temps there?
Bob

you are right about the nos ones they have an infinite shelf life, that is why i did recommend to have a spare one lying around.
all i can imagine that some sort of process is started once they have been hot for some time.
before central heating was a thing i used to check all appliances at the start of the heating season and there were always one or two that needed replacement although they had functioned fine at the end of the winter.

janvanruth · Jun 30, 2019

CalG said:
Bob, though I feel you may have missed the smiling emoticon in my comment, I truly wonder where you are getting those $10-$15 thermocouples for gas burners. The last two I purchased were north of $90 each.

Empire wall heater, let me know your source!

$ 90 is excessive
i never payed more then 15 euro at the local hardware store for a normal two foot length one

CarbideBob · Jun 30, 2019

CalG said:
Bob, though I feel you may have missed the smiling emoticon in my comment, I truly wonder where you are getting those $10-$15 thermocouples for gas burners. The last two I purchased were north of $90 each.

Empire wall heater, let me know your source!

Ace hardware, changed one in the furnace last year and one in the water heater a month ago.
Don't buy from a parts list for your brand, they are all the same but the tube may be a bit longer. Brand specific are custom lengths for ease of manufacturing in volumes.
That 10 to 20 seconds in manufacturing assembly is not a problem you now have.
Home depot sells generic replacements also.
Bob

thermite · Jun 30, 2019

Richard King said:
I have a separate water heater and it make a bubbling noise...lol maybe every 2 min I get a noise like like someone is hitting an aluminum boat with a chunk of wood. I will shut of the gas and light it in the fall. I better put it on my calendar to light it. Thanks

Tip for yah while yer still "young" enough to be able to DIY most anything as needs skilled hands.

It's a good time in life to think about re-do of such infrastructure projects while you are still energetic and agile enough to save a few bucks BY DIY'iing.

Get to be another ten years out, older, stiffer, mebbe with less acute vision, balance not so great, muscles no longer as strong nor agile?

THEN all that s**t you've been putting-off starts to fail like dominoes toppling and has to be hired seen to by others.

DAMHIKT

DDoug · Jun 30, 2019

CalG said:
I shut the gas off on the wall hanging heater that warms my shop space. Bats moved in through the vent and air intake. The droppings rusted out the inside over a single season. (Given, the unit had some years on it) Almost, coulda, might've, had a fire!

I run the pilot all year round now. Plus it prevents condensation on the critical parts.

Yup, what Calg said.

Also, IIRC Fisher (where JRIowa worked) or Rego has a PDF
about cabins, and propane shut off for a long time.
You turn off the valve at the appliance, the regulator won't hold that for the long shut down period, and leaks a bit.
Upon re-light, you've got a line full of full tank pressure at the burner.

Mud · Jun 30, 2019

FWIW, because of fortunate timing of automatic propane delivery dates, i found out that it cost right about $25 to run the pilot in a small furnace over a full summer, about 4 months.

JST · Jul 1, 2019

CalG said:
Bob, though I feel you may have missed the smiling emoticon in my comment, I truly wonder where you are getting those $10-$15 thermocouples for gas burners. The last two I purchased were north of $90 each.

Empire wall heater, let me know your source!

Dunno about that one, but the ones sold at Home Depot fit my furnace, the neighbor's furnace, and fit the old water heater. Those are around 10 bucks.
D

UncleFrank · Jul 1, 2019

Don't know how true it is but they used to say leaving the pilot light on kept condensation from building up inside and rusting out the burner. I heard that probably 50 years ago and might not be pertinent today.

DDoug · Jul 1, 2019

Richard King said:
I have a separate water heater and it make a bubbling noise...lol maybe every 2 min I get a noise like like someone is hitting an aluminum boat with a chunk of wood. I will shut of the gas and light it in the fall. I better put it on my calendar to light it. Thanks

Mag-E-Rad was what my dad used to boil out the water heater.

OT - Should I turn off Pilot Light on propane Boiler during the summer?

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