How automatic gas geyser ignition works
The Autopilot kit takes over the pilot’s job of lighting your geyser. During the heating times you set, it sparks continuously and lights the burner as soon as gas is available, at any pressure, so a gas cut or pressure drop no longer leaves the geyser off. Your thermostat still controls the water temperature.
How does a normal gas geyser stay lit?
Most storage gas geysers in Pakistan have three parts that matter here: a gas control thermostat (the knob marked Off, Pilot and On), a small pilot flame that burns all the time, and a thermocouple that sits in the pilot flame.
While the pilot burns, the thermocouple stays hot and holds the gas valve open. When the water cools, the thermostat opens gas to the main burner and the pilot lights it. If the pilot goes out, the thermocouple cools within a minute or so and the valve shuts off all gas. That is a safety feature, and it is also why the geyser stays cold until someone relights it.
What happens during load shedding, step by step
Gas is cut or the pressure falls
The pilot flame cannot survive, so it goes out. This also happens with strong wind down the flue or when gas compressors nearby drag the pressure down.
The geyser shuts its gas off
The thermocouple cools and the gas control closes. The geyser is now safely off, but it will not restart by itself.
Gas comes back
Without auto ignition, the geyser stays off until someone notices cold water and relights the pilot by hand.
Autopilot lights the burner
With the kit fitted and switched on, Autopilot sparks continuously during your heating times and lights the burner as soon as gas is available, even at low pressure. The thermostat carries on controlling the water temperature as usual.
Standing pilot vs on-demand ignition
A standing pilot is a small flame that burns day and night so the main burner can light at any moment. It is simple and reliable when gas is steady, but useless during load shedding because once it goes out, it stays out.
On-demand ignition means a spark or igniter lights the flame when it is needed. Instant geysers already work this way. The Autopilot kit gives a conventional storage geyser the same ability to light itself, without replacing the geyser.
Using the kit with a timer or Wi-Fi smart switch
The kit comes with a programmable socket that stores up to 20 ON/OFF times, so you choose exactly when the geyser heats. Add a Wi-Fi switch such as SONOFF to the main power socket if you want to control it from your phone. Customers use this to stop leaving the geyser on all day and to switch it on from the office before coming home.
A practical schedule lines up with when your area actually gets gas. For example, a household whose gas is reliable in the early morning and evening might run the geyser for an hour before everyone wakes and again before evening baths. Adjust it to your own area’s supply and family routine.
Read more about geyser Wi-Fi switches and timers.
What the kit does, and what it does not do
It does
- Light the burner automatically whenever gas is available, even at low pressure
- Fit existing gas geysers with a conventional unitrol-type thermostat
- Run on 220V, using about 5 watts
- Work on your normal Sui gas supply, without a cylinder
- Let you run the geyser on a timer or from your phone
It does not
- Create gas: if there is no supply, nothing can heat the water
- Repair a faulty thermostat or a corroded burner
- Fix a leaking tank or a blocked flue
- Replace professional help if you smell gas
If your geyser has other faults, such as a leaking tank or a thermostat that does not control the temperature, start with our troubleshooting guides.
Frequently asked questions
Does the kit need the pilot flame?
No. Autopilot bypasses the pilot function and lights the burner directly with its own spark. Between the ON and OFF times on its programmable socket it sparks continuously, so the geyser lights whenever gas is available; outside those times the geyser stays off. This is what lets you run the geyser only when you need hot water.
What happens if the gas never comes back?
Nothing unsafe: with no gas there is nothing to light, and the kit’s gas controller and emergency shut-off look after the gas side. When supply returns during your heating times, the kit lights the burner.
Will I get hot water immediately when gas returns?
Water that was already heated stays warm in the tank for some hours. After a long cut the tank has to reheat, which on a typical storage geyser takes from around half an hour to over an hour depending on its size and burner.
Does it work on instant (tankless) gas geysers?
Instant gas geysers normally light themselves with battery ignition when you open a tap, so they do not have this problem. The Autopilot kit is for storage geysers with a conventional unitrol-type thermostat.
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