On Sun, 11 Jan 2015 22:40:07 -0000, Unbeliever wrote:

Uncle Peter wrote:
On Sun, 11 Jan 2015 20:58:40 -0000, Rod Speed
wrote:
Uncle Peter wrote

Anyone turn the pilot light of their boiler or gas fire off in
summer?

It struck me it would cost a lot of gas over the year (and from
what I've read it's anything from £25 to £90 a year).

Then I found this! "With the pilot off, there are still trace
amounts of gas molecules in the burner and pilot tubes of your
fireplace. The gas companies add a chemical called Mercaptan to the
gas which gives it that lovely odor we all know. Spiders are
attracted to the smell of the Mercaptan and will sometimes build
webs in the pilot and burner tubes when the flow of gas is off. So
when you go to turn on your fireplace in the early fall or late
summer, it will not work, and you will have to call you local
installer to come service the unit. This will cost money."

Doesn't explain how modern systems that have no
pilot light at all manage to work fine when first used
after the summer has ended.

Maybe the valve is positioned closer to the end and less smell is
made to attract spiders?

My sides are aching so much from laughing at you Uncle Peter, I think it's
time to abandon this thread before I do myself some damage as a result..

Have a good day and a word of advice get a carbon monoxide Detector for your
own safety as you may well wake up and find yourself dead one day when your
old boiler attacks you with the stuff due to lack of servicing and
ham-fisted interference from you.

Any CO goes outside you fool.

--
What do you call an aerobics instructor who doesn't cause pain & agony?
Unemployed.