Urban Homesteader

As I cleaned the glass door of the fireplace in the family room, I noticed it felt hot. The small, violet flame of the pilot light was on, which meant we were not only wasting gas, we were also putting some heat in the room during one of the hottest summers on record. I didn’t want to make a mistake with something so potentially dangerous, so I found the owner’s guide for the gas fire assembly (a small miracle in and of itself!) and read it thoroughly. Fortunately, this was a job I could handle myself: “grasp the knob, and turn the pilot to the ‘Off’ position.” Success! – and it only took 5 minutes.

My research later confirmed that this simple step results in significant energy savings. The Canadian Gas Association found that in homes where the fireplace pilot light was left on all year, the pilot accounted for half (48%) of the total gas fireplace fuel consumption.