Why would anyone C clamp open all the fireplace flues?

What good would it do if it weren't on????? You go light the pilot, then use it to light the furnace/water heater/oven from that? In that case, may as well just go manual.

Well, it's not actually a waste; it's performing a service.

See above--it's not a pilot light if it isn't lit.

And, to cut down on that usage as energy costs have gone up is why the switch to piezo-electric starters instead of pilots...

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Nonsense. There are vent-free gas logs. No clip at all, though I wish there were one.

The pilot light doesn't but keeping the damper open will.

you had to

dryer, or stove.

Or gas fireplace. ;-)

close it after

In a perfect world, I think you're right. Building codes allow for a less than perfect world.

if you had to

clothes dryer, or stove.

My experience has been different. I don't have records going back that far, but I've been turning my furnace pilot light off during the summer for decades. It saved enough to be well worth the effort.

close it after

Building codes allow for a less than perfect world. Like when you forget to open the damper. Or when you're sure you left it open, but the wife closed it. Or when you have a visitor. Or when the kids get cold and you're not around. or...or...or

My chimney is capped, but there's also a board over the front of the fireplace. And my air conditioner condenser is wrapped, but there's a sticker on the breaker that says, "don't turn this on before you uncover the compressor."

Not everybody is perfect...

External Angst:

Been up in your attic lately? If you live north of DC anywhere in the country you should have at least 12-18" of fiberglass insulation in the floor of that attic. The door or stair/hatch into that attic should also be weatherstripped.

Heat rises - stop it in it's tracks! :)

A standing pilot does a couple of things. It can keep things warm which helps prevent corrosion and it tends to drive away any insects that may want to take up residence in the flue and burners. It's also simple and reliable, the electronic ignition equipped systems are more complicated and have more points of failure. Most folks leave the pilot burning in cold weather when the fireplace may be used and turn the gas off in the warmer months especially if they are using LP gas. ^_^

TDD

When it's time to go to bed, it's time to go to bed! On my schedule, not the fireplaces.

I guess I could have a fire extinguisher nearby ...

COULD?

How about ABSOLUTELY SHOULD?

Can't hurt, but the thing you need most is a CO detector.

Good point. I once had a camp heater that refused to light. Turned out there was a spider web across the spark gap.

I also had a CD burner that refused to work because of a spider web across the lens.

Maybe I should clean house more often...

I was working on a commercial refrigeration unit one time and found a short circuit caused by a mouse that had crawled through an open conduit knock out hole in the compressor's electrical junction box. The mouse had an electrifying experience. ^_^

TDD

I've never used the fireplace before, so it was unnatural for me to think that people keep the pilot flame on all the time (wasting gas?).

Once I warm up to the idea of keeping the pilot flame lit all the time, then it becomes obvious why you'd want the damper to be locked open all the time.

But, if that's the case that the pilot is supposed to always be lit, then why bother with the electronic snapper to light the pilot in the first place?

You could use a flame to light the pilot if it's just a one-time deal.

How is there going to be any smoke in the chimney of a fireplace that is not in use? And how can what happens when you open a damper prove that closing the damper may be dangerous?

The snapper was offered as a solution for pilot being blown out in outside windy conditions.

You can use an automatic snapper instead of a pilot light to light the burner. Newer units typically use an electric heater that gets hot enough to light the gas. Neither are particularly practical for a fireplace insert without easy access to power.

The cost of running a pilot is not zero. And one could argue that at least some of the heat from an inside pilot ends up in the living space.

Maybe you should put a "web-free zone" sign on your front door.

There's been a lot of conjecture and snippage in this thread. Suggest you go back to the beginning and read it all.

About the only FACT we know is the current configuration of the house hasn't killed the current resident yet.

I can tell you that in MY house, based on differential pressure and infiltration measurements, I would not consider building a fire without opening a window somewhere. And if someone turned on the range hood, the bathroom fan or the clothes dryer there'd be smoke everywhere.

As a practical matter, a typical house that met code when built and hadn't been changed, probably has a lot of slack. You could probably close vents with impunity up until the point where that unfortunate confluence of conditions set the place on fire or killed your kids while they slept. Your house, your kids, your choice.

My choice was to seal the place up tight, build a heat-recovery ventilator and never build a fire again.

I googled for "how much energy does a pilot light waste" and found the Strait Dope article which said it was 15 cents to 30 cents a day: "How much per day does it cost to run pilot lights?"

This physics site says it costs about $200/year for a pilot light.

I read it all. He said "unused fireplaces" and was warned "don't close them"

I suggested that while closing the damper in an unused fireplace might not be ideal, it is certainly not dangerous.

You countered by suggesting that _opening_ a damper might cause smoke to be sucked into the house.

I suggested that you won't find much smoke in an unused fireplace, and that if there were smoke there, _opening_ a damper would not cause the undefined hazard warned about from _closing_ it.

Whereupon you suggested I read the whole thread and repeated the same nonsequitur.

The number I remember was $9/month savings when I turned off the pilot in summer. But I don't have records back that far to verify. I bought an electric spark igniter at a garage sale, but didn't know what I was doing and feared burning down the house. Never installed it.

New furnace has an electric igniter.