# I just lit my pilot light **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 6, 2005, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-lit-my-pilot-light/334310 "2005-12-06T05:13:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![adhemar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@adhemar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhemar)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2005, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-lit-my-pilot-light/334310/1 "2005-12-06T05:13:58Z")
I have a really old furnace and it is hard to light. It is especially hard to light when you aren’t lighting the right opening. Anyway, whoo hoo , I should be getting heat now. Currently outside it is 25 degrees Farenheit and it is probably about 50 degrees where I am sitting by an electric space heater, too cold. I really want to get central heat and air but don’t have the money. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2005, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-lit-my-pilot-light/334310/2 "2005-12-06T06:02:02Z")
_sniff sniff_ Do I smell gas? ---
**Author:** ![adhemar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@adhemar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhemar)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2005, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-lit-my-pilot-light/334310/3 "2005-12-06T06:22:38Z")
> [@CynicalGabe](#): > > _sniff sniff_ > Do I smell gas? Nope, I can see the pilot light burning. So there! Nyah! ---
**Author:** ![Old\_Goat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/5daacb/32.png) [@Old\_Goat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Old_Goat)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2005, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-lit-my-pilot-light/334310/4 "2005-12-06T06:23:46Z")
If it’s a diesel burner, word of warning: do you know diesel can explode?. I would try to light my oil burner by throwing a burning wick into the firebox. Until one night I sthffed a burning roll of paper down the peephole and an enormous fire ball shot back. I saw it coming and turned my head but it blistered my hand and left first degree burns on one side of my head. Replaced it with a gas burner. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2005, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-lit-my-pilot-light/334310/5 "2005-12-06T07:45:40Z")
I think your problem had something to do with _A BURNING ROLL OF PAPER_. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![adhemar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@adhemar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhemar)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2005, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-lit-my-pilot-light/334310/6 "2005-12-06T20:57:15Z")
No it is a natural gas furnace which I have lit every year for 7 years. My problem is there are two little holes close to each other and I can’t remember from year to year which hole is the correct one to light. I would try to mark it somehow but I have no idea what to use that wouldn’t melt or cause a possible fire and stand up to the heat as well. The fact I have to lay on the floor, hold the little hatch door up and at the same time hold in the pilot light switch and put a flame to the little hole is not exactly easy. So anyway it is sucessfuly lit and heating the house, so far no fireballs. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2005, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-lit-my-pilot-light/334310/7 "2005-12-06T23:10:11Z")
For anyone worried or concerned about their safety when lighting a pilot in their furnace, water heater or stove, nearly all gas utility companies will do this for free. More often than not, they’ll also adjust the burner so it’s at best efficiency. (blue flame, rather than yellow) ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2005, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-lit-my-pilot-light/334310/8 "2005-12-06T23:42:54Z")
> [@adhemar](#): > > I would try to mark it somehow but I have no idea what to use that wouldn’t melt or cause a possible fire and stand up to the heat as well. Can’t you just draw a diagram and paste it on a nearby wall? ---
**Author:** ![nonacetone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonacetone/32/2819_2.png) [@nonacetone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nonacetone)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2005, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-lit-my-pilot-light/334310/9 "2005-12-06T23:58:55Z")
It’s currently 20F outside. The low tonight is supposed to get down to 5F. I had the gas company come out here a month or so ago, to turn off my gas service, because my husband and my daughter keep turning the damn heat up. This is _NOT_ good for a woman who has **frequent** hotflashes. I went out and bought a few space heaters. Mr. Acetone is only home on weekends, since he’s a truck driver, so he can handle it for the short time he’s at home, by wearing sweats and using throws…and AlwaysAcetone is now 18 and old enough to handle it, by doing the same thing, although she’s quite pissed at me about the situation. I can’t stand it when it gets too warm. That’s why we have all sorts of blankets and throws, you know…space heaters, too! Heck, they can sit on a heating pad if they get too cold! I cannot deal with the furnace being turned on quite yet! The temperature in here is a blistering 54F and I’m drinking iced tea. Imagine. _Any_ woman that has had hotflashes _surely_ can relate! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Rue\_DeDay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/41988e/32.png) [@Rue\_DeDay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rue_DeDay)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-lit-my-pilot-light/334310/10 "2005-12-07T01:20:38Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > Can’t you just draw a diagram and paste it on a nearby wall? That’s just crazy talk. Why would **adhemar** want to set fire to the wall? ---
**Author:** ![adhemar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@adhemar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhemar)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-lit-my-pilot-light/334310/11 "2005-12-07T02:17:21Z")
> [@Rue DeDay](#): > > That’s just crazy talk. Why would **adhemar** want to set fire to the wall? Well, that is a thought however this would be extremely visible to anyone in the house since one furnace is in the living room and the other is in the middle of the hall next to the guest bathroom. I would put a diagram someplace less visible but then wouldn’t remember where I put it. ---
**Author:** ![adhemar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@adhemar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhemar)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-lit-my-pilot-light/334310/12 "2005-12-07T02:21:40Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > For anyone worried or concerned about their safety when lighting a pilot in their furnace, water heater or stove, nearly all gas utility companies will do this for free. More often than not, they’ll also adjust the burner so it’s at best efficiency. (blue flame, rather than yellow) My town USED to do this, however now they charge for it. they also don’t make any adjustments, they will tell you that you may need to get it serviced but I think they just do that because of the apparent age since I had one of the furnace’s controls replaced ibe year and the next year they still told me I MIGHT want to have the controls looked at. Payed for another service call to find out that was a CYA kind of thing. So now I light them myself. I don’t have to take off from work and wait till they get around to me. ---
**Author:** ![gardentraveler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gardentraveler/32/3576_2.png) [@gardentraveler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gardentraveler)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-lit-my-pilot-light/334310/13 "2005-12-07T02:38:23Z")
I had to do this for about 10 years straight at the last house I rented. The furnace actually had a diagram, but it wasn’t a very good one and it was hard to remember exactly where to hold the lighter. Managed to work every time anyway (although sometimes it took a couple tries). GT