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> every single natural gas water heater is connected to 120V power for the ignition circuit

Mine isn't. During a long power outage, I still had hot water.

I was a bit surprised the water heater was working since I was pretty sure it had an electronic control system. So I went and looked, and sure enough, it was electronic, and somehow the LED was flashing blue like normal!

It turns out the electronics are powered by a thermopile which is heated by the pilot light.





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