Will the pilot keep the water relatively warm?

[Bratsondanielle]

If you have an ordinary hot water tank (gas upright standing/burner in the bottom) and you set it to pilot will the water stay relatively warm, or won't it do anything at all?

[exitseven]

The pilot light will not do anything to keep the water warm in the tank.

[exitseven]

Thanks for the MHO😎

[Andres77]

It will turn on the burners to keep the water hot

[Bratsondanielle]

Unless you turn it down to the pilot setting which was said in my question and the question was "will the pilot itself help keep the water warm

[Andres77]

Sorry, it didn't sink in.
It won't do anything.

[Bratsondanielle]

LOL I'm sorry I didn't mean to bite at you. You are actually one of the ones I like very much on here.

[Andres77]

Thank you.
But it's a problem, I read the caption and don't read the details and I reply with the completely wrong idea in mind or I've replied to kids under 18 without realizing so I've got to be more careful in my responses. Thankfully there are some folks that point that out and I can try to fix it.

[Andres77]

Are you traveling soon? Why are you turning the gas down?

[Bratsondanielle]

I do the same thing. No worries. I still adore you. You always give wonderful opinions and ask great questions. I'm the off-grid girl in the middle of nowhere if you remember? I always have super weird questions about power from water and power from Sun and wood cutting Etc... anyway off grid you prepare for winter in the summer. We heat the water with wood and sun. The tank itself has a burner. But we have limited propane of course. So we were wondering if we could tie over a few days on the pilot since it uses very little gas. ... long story huh..

[Andres77]

Depends on where you live. I grew up in Minnesota and no one I knew had AC. My wife grew up in Colombia and no one she knew had heat nor hot water heaters.
Depending where you live you're playing the odds with weather and budget.
I really admire what you guys are doing.

[Andres77]

Awesome book, Arctic Daughter by Jean Aspen.
How she and her boyfriend from college in Arizona just drove to Alaska and lived almost two years out in the wilderness. Beautiful story.

[Bratsondanielle]

It's just super fun we think. Husband saw a gimmick or a gizmo that supposedly turns compost into propane... who knows if it works but...

[LikeALog]

No, it does not produce enough heat to keep the water any warmer than the temperature of the air in the location of the water heater (ambient temperature). It will not be able to heat the cooler/colder water entering the heater as you use water.
Water heaters are insulated to maintain the water temperature. If you don't use any hot water, it will remain hot for hours depending on the ambient temperature. When the water temperature drops below the thermostat setting on the water heater, the burner is ignited to reheat the water.

[Daniela1982]

Not very long as a pilot light is just there to turn the burner on when needed. It is not meant to heat anything as far as I know.

[Surely]

I would say that it probably won’t do anymore than burn expensive fuel!

Pilot lights have been found to burn more fuel than the burners they light.

[hafinjun]

You sure you set it to pilot to light pilot, remember right usually you have to hold it down in that position for so many seconds after you light it

[KrakenAttackin]

All the pilot light does is light the gas burner when thermostat calls for more heat, causing gas to flow and be ignited.

[Guardian45]

I think turning it simply maintains the pilot light, but does NOT heat the tank.