Gas lanterns on the porch...ignition...

Bob is backing slowly away and getting in his pick-em-up truck...

Amber - My plan has a single gas lantern over the porch. After looking into it, it will just be electric. We had a gas post 2 houses ago - so old tech. It failed and we just capped it off. Looked kind of silly but wasn't about to spend the money to fix it. I assume someone later yanked it - the buyers never looked at the house at night so probably didn't realize it didn't work.

Wasting NG maybe some people's thing. Leaving a "light" on all the time is certainly wasteful - especially when you are using a not efficient light source - ie burning NG. Electric ignition at least keeps the waste down but it is expensive.

You can find all sorts of numbers but the unbiased one (not a gas light store) I found quoted $240 a year for continuous operation - based on $.80 a therm. So switched operation might be 75% less based on 6 hours a day - more in winter, less in summer if you shut off at 1 AM. So the payback is pretty quick for electric ignition.

A similar LED is about 90% less.

NG prices have been much higher in the past. Fracking will probably keep prices down but we might be one big fracking accident or contamination away from changing things.

I saw a gas lantern burn the front side of a house off in the Garden District in New Orleans. Probably not a good idea. But they are pretty when the power is off.

We don’t have any gas lanterns....I didn’t think to do it when building, but I wish we did...they are gorgeous! Several of my neighbors have them, and they stay lit. I imagine it is like having a couple extra pilot lights going. We have a lot of gas stuff (an indoor gas fp, outdoor fp w/gas starter, gas fire pit, built-in outdoor grill, gas furnace & gas range...and I don’t think our gas bill is exorbitant. DH does turn off the pilot lights in the fireplaces during the summer. I think the electric ignition is a great idea!

I remember those. I guess everything comes back again if you wait long enough.

Just keep them on. I own stock in some oil and gas limited partnerships that have been suffering of late.

nini - that is truly amazing that you have a newer house with pilot lights. I haven't had a pilot light in 20 years on anything. Nearly everything is electric ignition nowadays. Your gas bill is not high because none of those things you list are on all the time. A pilot on all the time isn't a big deal. A light on all the time is.

The external lights have 2 options - on all the time or electric ignition. I have not seen one with a pilot light. And again - I haven't seen anything with a pilot light in years. In the 80s we had an old house with a pilot on the range. And I do believe my 1993 house had a water heater with a pilot.

A pilot light is generally a terrible option from an indoor air quality prospective, a safety prospective and an energy use perspective.

I can’t understand why you just don’t go LEDs for lanterns they cost a tiny amount to run can be put on a timer . The black one is actually a gas lamp retrofitted for LEDs

Gas lamps are the gold tooth instead of the enamel composite filling. Ostentatious and flashy spending for the sake of being flashy. It doesn’t fool anyone into thinking that the family estate has been there since before electricity was brought in. It’s just money out of your pocket every month for bragging rights.

LED is so much functionally better in every way. But it is not a flashy waste of money.

Only our fireplace has a pilot light...it was originally supposed to be wood burning but we had it converted to gas after we moved in bc I changed my mind about having a wood burning fp indoors. That’s what dh turns off...I asked him about our outside fp & he said that one (Wood burning with a gas starter) and the gas fire pit in the yard don’t have pilot lights on. And of course none of our appliances have pilot lights.

And I think there is a benefit to having the FP inside having a pilot light...we live in an area with lots of large trees and infrequent (thankfully) but terrible ice storms. We have nice heat when the power goes out.

Emergency generator, with or without automatic start.

Typical electric fireplace is battery start.

And can be lit with a match if needed. It just has a mechanical thermocouple as a safety. Stove top too. Light it with a match in a power outage.

@nini804,

Gas fireplaces don't need pilot lights. As David Cary stated, a battery starter is included in most models. I replaced a fireplace a few years ago and everyone I researched had a battery starter. You may want to check if you insert has such a function, it may be an add on but is well worth it in my opinion. My older fireplace did have a pilot light and I always left it on because I forgot about it. It was a waste of energy.

A gas lantern would never be a want for me. I prefer led exterior lighting with Dark Sky certification. Many of the exterior lights that I see don't actually provide good lighting to mark walkways and things like that so that is my focus.

Good luck!

I have friends and relatives who have had their wells and drinking water impacted by fracking. That's what I see in the flames of natural gas combustion.

LEDs are getting better for candle and flame simulation with a fraction of the environmental and social impact. Do your neighbors a favor and stay off the gas.