Flare ignition systems: pilots, igniters, and proving the flame
The flare or combustor is only doing its job when it's lit. An unlit flare isn't controlling anything — it's venting raw gas to atmosphere, which is both an emissions problem and a safety one. The ignition system is what keeps that from happening, and it has three parts worth understanding.
The pilot
A small, continuously burning flame whose only job is to light the main waste gas when it shows up. A reliable pilot is the whole ballgame — most "flare problems" are really a pilot that blew out or couldn't hold in the wind.
The igniter
What lights the pilot. Older setups use a flame-front generator that sends a traveling spark-lit flame up the line; modern systems use a direct electronic igniter at the tip. Either way, it has to relight reliably and on demand — and ideally without sending someone to the stack with a road flare.
Flame detection
The system has to know the pilot is lit, the same way a burner management system proves a flame — usually a thermocouple at the pilot, sometimes optical detection on bigger units. No proven pilot, and the controller should alarm and call for relight rather than quietly assume everything's fine.
Keeping it reliable
Wind, fuel-gas quality, and fouled pilot tips are the usual culprits behind unreliable ignition. We service the ignition and burner-management side of flares and enclosed combustors, and handle ignition consultation and combustion design when something needs rethinking instead of just relighting.
Related guides.
Flare vs. combustor vs. enclosed combustor: what's the difference?
They all burn off gas you can't sell or capture. The difference is how completely they burn it, how visible it is, and what the rules in your area will accept.
How a burner management system works (flame proving, lockouts, and all)
A BMS isn't a thermostat. Its whole job is to light a burner safely, prove there's actually a flame, and shut everything down the second something's wrong.