Ishpeming, Michigan – February 29th, 2016 – I have now lived in my home for about 4 months. I use natural gas to heat my home. Since I’ve moved into my home I’ve consistently had unusually high natural gas bills. In fact, the bills have been so high that I had a specialist come over and try to pinpoint the problem. Come to find out I have a boiler that is 74% efficient. What does that mean? It means that it’s far from meeting the standards of today’s new boilers. Most of today’s boilers are over 90% efficient. My boiler is FAR from that. So, that explains the problem, right? Well, sorta.
I have a pilot light that is running and burning natural gas 24/7 in my boiler. After reading how much natural gas a pilot light actually burns is rather surprising! Based on current natural gas prices, a pilot light CAN burn over $20/month in natural gas; that fact, and the fact that my pilot light is twice the size of an average pilot light likely is the problem behind my high natural gas bills. Keep in mind a pilot light isn’t used in the newer boiler models. My boiler is from the late 1980’s–back then pilot lights were the standard.
After doing my research, watching my gas meter, and reading up on pilot lights–I came to the conclusion that I’m burning about $20-$30/month with my pilot light! YIKES! How scary is that? So, that’s a big part of my bill. Keeping a pilot light lit 24/7. Burning natural gas away…
As soon as the weather warms up and I won’t need my boiler to warm my house the pilot light is going OFF. I’m curious to see just how much I will save with my natural gas bills once the weather warms up.
This is why I believe pilot lights are evil. What say you?
-Eric Scott “Mornings on 103-FXD”
