How much gas does a standing pilot light use per month?
A standing, always-on pilot burns small — roughly 600 to 1,200 BTU an hour — but running 24/7 it adds up to somewhere around 5 to 8 gallons of propane, or 5 to 8 therms of natural gas, in a month if you leave it lit year-round. Noticeable on propane, minor on natural gas, but never quite zero.
Small flame, long hours
A standing pilot is a tiny flame, but there are about 720 hours in a month, and they add up. At the low end that's a few gallons of propane; leave the pilot burning all summer when you're not using the fireplace and it's just quietly costing you fuel and adding a little heat to a room you're trying to keep cool. On natural gas the dollars are trivial; on propane out in Fairview or up at a cabin, it's worth thinking about.
This is why electronic ignition exists
Many of our units use intermittent electronic ignition — IntelliFire, IPI — instead of a standing pilot. There's no always-on flame; the pilot sparks only when you call for fire, so you're not feeding gas around the clock. Over a full year that trims real fuel off a propane system. The one tradeoff: basic electronic ignition needs power or battery backup to spark, which matters for outages.
If you have a standing pilot
You've got options — leave it lit through the season for easy relights and a dry, spider-free burner, or shut it off in summer to save that trickle. We can tell you which makes sense for your specific unit, and recommend or retrofit electronic-ignition models where it fits. Call (828) 545-0525.
Related questions
- Should I turn off my fireplace pilot light in summer to save gas?
- Does electronic ignition really use less gas than a standing pilot light?
- How much does it cost per hour to run a propane fireplace?
- Does a gas fireplace with electronic ignition still light during a power outage?
- Do I need to relight the pilot after a propane refill?
- How do I know if my house has natural gas or propane?
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