In the warm months of summer you don’t use your furnace to heat your home. So why not shut it off? You may not think about it, but your furnace still consumes natural gas, propane, which ever you use, during the summer, even though you are not using your furnace at all. Your furnace will also consume electricity while not in use as well. There are some electronic valves and sensors that consume electric 24/7 on your furnace even when it is not being used!
Why Does My Furnace Consume Gas When Not In Use
Your pilot light is still burning gas. Your pilot light is a small flame that stays lit 24/7. This little flame is used to ignite the furnace’s burners which heat your home.
Now there are some furnaces on the market that use an electronic igniter instead of a gas pilot light. If your furnace uses an electronic igniter then this article may not save you much money.
Why Does My Furnace Consume Electricity When Not in Use
There are electronic valves that turn on and off your gas to your main burners and also to your pilot light. There is also a thermocouple that senses heat from pilot light. If your pilot light goes out, the thermocouple tells the electronics to shut off the gas to the pilot light so you are not filling the air with natural gas or propane. Each of these electronics are consuming electricity 24/7.
How Much Gas Does My Pilot Light Use
Your pilot light on your furnace or fireplace is a flame a little larger than what a candle would put out, but your pilot light is hotter. Your pilot light on your furnace or fireplace will consume 600 – 900 BTUs! Some would try to argue saying there is no way a pilot light consumes 600 – 900 BTUs, but it does.
How Much Money Does a Pilot Light Cost
This will depend on how much your pilot light consumes and how much you actually pay for your natural gas. This is usually printed on your gas bill. But on average 600 – 900 BTUs would cost you around $0.08 – $0.11/day. Which would be $2.44 – $3.35/month, or $29.22 – $40.18/year!
How Much Money Will I Save Turning Off Gas to Furnace
This depends on where you live. Here I could probably turn off the gas and electric to my furnace 6 months of the year. So I would save $14.61 – $20.09/year just by turning off the gas to my furnace during the summer months.
How Much Money Will I Save Turning Off Electric to Furnace
First if you are using central air conditioning system, you can not turn off your electric to your furnace as the air blower on the furnace is used to blow cold air through your home. For those of you that do not have central air, you can turn off your gas and electric to your furnace to save even more money! I’m not 100% sure on how much electricity is consumed by just the electronic valves, sensors, etc. in my furnace as I haven’t measured it yet, but with my electrical knowledge in circuits and such, I would have to guess around 10watts are being used for these devices 24/7. So shutting of the electricity to your furnace would save you an additional $4.39/year!
So saving gas and saving electricity by turning off your gas and electric to your furnace will save you a total of $44.57/year!
August 26th, 2011 at 11:10 PM
Ummm no furnace manufacturer in about the last 25 years has a pilot light.
August 27th, 2011 at 10:46 AM
Mike,
My furnace has a pilot light, my father’s furnace has a pilot light, my mother’s furnace has a pilot light (only 5 or 6 years old), my grandfathers furnace has a pilot light (about 12 – 14 years old), but his isn’t used as he has a wood furnace. I’m also sure there are many others out there with furnaces that still have a pilot light that could be turned off in the summer months.
September 6th, 2011 at 2:00 PM
Mike, I just bought a new home and thus learned more about furnaces than I ever learned renting. My furnace has a pilot light, as did the furnace in my last rental. It was obvious to me that I was wasting gas by keeping it running, so I found this article very helpful.
September 6th, 2011 at 7:05 PM
Leigh,
Congrats on the new home, hope my website helps you save some money on your bills in your new home. Thanks for stopping by, hope to see you more!
October 21st, 2011 at 7:50 AM
This article is ridiculous. Who in their right mind would give even the tiniest shit about bothering to save such an insignificant amount of money ….? Granted, money should not be squandered through willful ignorance, I’m just thinking if turning off meant real savings, in the hundreds say, THEN YOU’D BE TALKING, then and only then would you really have our attention. How am I meant to get excited by forty four bucks….?
October 23rd, 2011 at 11:02 PM
Clnto,
$44/year is not much, but to just throw $44/year away for no reason is wasting your money, as well as wasting gas. If you like send me your $44/year I’m sure I will find great use for it. There is a donate button on the site you can click and send me $44 every year! Just remember every little bit saved adds up. Look at home page of this website, from all of the little things I do around my home to save money and save the environment I’m saving a total of $2,111.53 every single year. I’m sure soon I’ll find some other things to save money and this will allow me to save even more money!