Because we live in New England where temperatures drop down below 50 degrees pretty early in the fall and stay there until spring, it is recommended to leave the pilot on. The reason for this it because a natural draft needs to be established in gas units which allows the warm exhaust air to travel up and cooler outside air to travel down into the firebox which is needed to light the burner. If a natural draft is not established you may find that the pilot will light, the burner will light but have blue flames which tend to lift off the burner and then blow out. This is referred to as ghosting. If you do decide to keep the pilot off, you may need to turn it on and wait about a half hour for the flue to warm up before turning on the burner.
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