On Mon, 12 Jan 2015 15:45:53 +1100, F Murtz wrote:

You may be the idiot here, a few years ago heaters and burners were
designed with permanently on pilots which were not designed to be turned
on and off at will (usually fairly complicated action)It was never done
except in cases of prolonged absences.There would be many of these
heating devices still in existence.

"A few years ago"? I'd suggest it was a lot longer than that, (at least!)
nearer twenty years than ten since boilers had pilots routinely.

Sure, there'll be a reasonably large number still in use - but it'll be a
very small percentage of all boilers, and shrinking rapidly.