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Old 04-30-2014, 03:29 AM   #1
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Pilot Lights

I have a stove which works off an igniter and an oven which works on a pilot light. The pilot light is difficult to light. Is it possible to change that to an igniter? My uncle insists I should always turn off the gas to the oven. That makes sense to me, however it is a bit of a pain to get it lit.

My uncle insist that leaving the pilot on wastes too much gas. I worry about it for safety reasons. I am unsure whether I should leave it lit or not. My question is what do you people do?
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Old 04-30-2014, 05:23 AM   #2
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Do or will you use the oven?
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Old 04-30-2014, 08:20 AM   #3
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The thermocouple in the oven opens and closes the main valve to maintain a specific temp in the oven. To do that, you need the pilot to ignite the main burner each time. Even in new home gas ovens, when you turn on the oven, the pilot is ignited first and remains lit as long as the oven is set to a temp. So, you need the pilot in your oven.
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Old 04-30-2014, 08:37 AM   #4
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The heat from my oven vents out of the rear of the stove so I will not close the top cover with the pilot lit. As long as the cover is open I will leave the pilot on but only when the trailer is stationary and I know for sure I will be using the oven later. Most of the time I shut the pilot down anyway. My pilot light is easy to start with a gas lighter.
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Old 05-10-2014, 09:01 AM   #5
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I use the oven often but not every day. I was difficult lighting with a Bic lighter. I bought a long handled lighter for it.

I am still curious how long it will burn on a pound of gas.
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Old 05-10-2014, 01:37 PM   #6
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Try baking a meatloaf in it to test the one pound bottle. Win win to me
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Old 05-10-2014, 01:55 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Night Sailor View Post
......snip......
I am still curious how long it will burn on a pound of gas.
There are around 22,000 BTU's in a pound of propane. Pilot lights themselves vary per usage, but typically burn from 600 to a thousand BTU's per hour.
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Old 05-10-2014, 02:34 PM   #8
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Originally Posted by Night Sailor View Post

My uncle insist that leaving the pilot on wastes too much gas.
I know the pilot light on my hot water tank does not use much propane at all if it not having to fire right up to reheat the water I use.

It was the topic over on countryplans.com where someone did a test using the pilot light on their hot water tank. He figured it out that it would take 3.6 months for the pilot light on his hot water tank to burn through 2 - 20lb tanks of propane. I can't imagine the one on the oven would be all that much different.
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Old 05-16-2014, 08:57 AM   #9
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There are around 22,000 BTU's in a pound of propane. Pilot lights themselves vary per usage, but typically burn from 600 to a thousand BTU's per hour.

Thanks Francesca. I'll take the time to light it. Perhaps someone makes an igniter otherwise I'll use the long handled lighter I just bought.
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Old 05-16-2014, 11:22 AM   #10
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Thanks Francesca. I'll take the time to light it. Perhaps someone makes an igniter otherwise I'll use the long handled lighter I just bought.
Do you have a readily accessible means of turning off the gas to only the oven?

I ask because as I think mentioned earlier, the gas supply to most gas oven burner/pilots is tied together since the main burner relies on the pilot light during operation as a means of controlling temperature (thermostat shuts down burner, reigniting via pilot when temperature drops below setpoint).

We have a non-electronic ignition gas stove at home, too, and keep the top burner pilots off for the same reason you're considering here. Seems like a waste of propane to let them burn all the time! And the burners have shutoffs for the pilots that have nothing to do with the main burner supply. Lighting for use is by the same Bic-type lighter we use on the trailer stovetop.

But as for the oven, since there's no accessible way to shut off and relight when we want to use it we have to leave the pilot burning all the time.
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Old 05-16-2014, 11:51 AM   #11
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There are hand-held, electronic, spark lighters on the market
I bought two "Hotaru High Voltage Lighters" on eBay for about $20 for both. They have about a 10" wand and use 1 AA battery. Also useful for behavioral modification.



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