the reason was safety. the dum *******s that insisted on keeping a can of
gas next to their water heater caused this. Now they have combustible gas
detectors and sealed chambers with spark ignition. There's no way a pilot
uses ANY where near the amount of gas you were "quoted".

steve


"James Sweet" wrote in message
...


I've seen quotes of 5-15 therms per month, I don't know if this has been
reduced significantly on modern equipment but at $1.30 or so per therm
that I pay that works out to at least $78 per year, which is considerably
more than "about a dime"! Is this accurate? I don't know, I'd love to see
some solid modern data, but there's a reason standing pilots were banned
on most gas fired appliances, water heaters being the exception given that
the pilot heat is not really wasted as it goes towards keeping the water
hot, but we're talking about shutting down a dormant water heater in which
case the water doesn't need to be kept hot.