Boiler pilot light just wasting gas over summer?

TuppenceHapenny

If I don't need hot water from the taps over summer, should I turn my boiler off for the summer so the pilot light isn't burning gas needlessly? Or is there some good reason for leaving it turned on?

TheCyclingProgrammer

Why would you not need hot water over the summer?

couriervanman

Do you enjoy a cold bath

Gloomendoom

TuppenceHapenny wrote: »

If I don't need hot water from the taps over summer, should I turn my boiler off for the summer so the pilot light isn't burning gas needlessly? Or is there some good reason for leaving it turned on?

If your boiler supplies your hot water, you will still need it. I turn ours off and use the immersion heater on E7 in the summer as it works out cheaper for us overall than the gas boiler.

Ectophile

There is one risk if you have a boiler old enough to have a pilot light. Do you know if the igniter still works properly?


Modern ones do away with the pilot light, and rely on an electronic spark igniter to light the boiler every time they are used.

Norman_Castle

I used to turn mine off through the summer on my previous boiler. To relight it I had to purge air from the pipe by keeping my thumb on the button for a minute or two. No idea how the air got in there.

kerri_gt

Surely you need hot water over the summer or can you get it from another source?

I would think the amount if gas the pilot light uses is pretty negligible - not sure about boilers but the manual for our fire suggests leaving the pilot light on at all times.

Guess you may need to offeset the potential savings vs the potential engineer callout cost if the boiler won't relight.

Mr.Generous

I wonder how long the pilot has to be on to burn £1 worth of gas? On this forum there will be someone with that kind of information.

shaun_from_Africa

Mr.Generous wrote: »

I wonder how long the pilot has to be on to burn £1 worth of gas? On this forum there will be someone with that kind of information.

Some websites estimate that it could well be between £60 and £120 per year for the pilot light on an old boiler.

https://www.superwarm.co.uk/is-your-old-pilot-light-wasting-gas/

https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/pilot-light-burning-away-how-much-does-it-cost-per-year.290685/

Mr.Generous

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

Some websites estimate that it could well be between £60 and £120 per year for the pilot light on an old boiler.

https://www.superwarm.co.uk/is-your-old-pilot-light-wasting-gas/

https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/pilot-light-burning-away-how-much-does-it-cost-per-year.290685/

Good enough, lets call it £2 per week. Say a £25 saving over the summer. Not too bad, unless of course it won't then relight after 3 years of making this saving and a service visit costs you £80 +vat :rotfl:

Norman_Castle

Mr.Generous wrote: »

Good enough, lets call it £2 per week. Say a £25 saving over the summer. Not too bad, unless of course it won't then relight after 3 years of making this saving and a service visit costs you £80 +vat :rotfl:

Mine was turned off for 20+ summers, 20 x £25 = £500 with no cost to relight.