Our Services
How our technicians find a gas fireplace fault
The inspection is free, and you choose what gets done after seeing each item priced in writing.
A slow or uneven light-up
When the burner lights, the flame should spread across every port quickly. One maker describes a total light-up of 5 to 10 seconds as satisfactory and asks for service when ignition takes longer. A burner that lights in patches, rolls flame out of the front or lights with a soft thump is telling you something.
Ports clogged with lint, a dirty pilot, low gas pressure and media sitting where it should not are all possible reasons. We clean the ports and the pilot assembly, reset the logs to the diagram and measure the pressure if the light-up is still slow afterward.
Running the fireplace when the power is out
How a gas fireplace behaves in a power cut depends on its controls. A millivolt unit with a standing pilot makes its own current and does not need household power to run the valve. Many electronic-ignition units do need power, and some carry a battery backup for that reason. One maker's manual adds that the batteries should come out of the holder once power returns.
Blowers and accent lights stop without household power either way. If you want to know what your unit will do in an outage, ask during the service visit. We show you the backup, if there is one, and how to use it safely.
Black soot on the glass or the logs
Soot inside a gas fireplace is a symptom with a cause. One maker's troubleshooting guide lists flame striking the media, a blocked or misadjusted air shutter, an input rate that is too high, a broken door gasket and leaking vent joints. Each of these changes how cleanly the gas burns.
Cleaning the glass removes the evidence without fixing the fault, so we look for the cause first. If soot appears outside the firebox, on the wall or the ceiling, stop using the fireplace until it has been checked. We clean the deposits once the reason for them has been corrected.
Direct-vent, B-vent or vent-free
Gas fireplaces fall into three broad groups. A direct-vent unit has a sealed glass front and draws outside air through a two-part vent. A B-vent unit uses air from the room and sends exhaust up a vent pipe. A vent-free unit has no vent at all and burns in the room, with a sensor pilot that shuts it off if the oxygen in the room falls.
Each group has its own checks and its own risks, so identifying the type is part of the first look. The Florida fuel gas code lists vented gas fireplaces, vented fireplace heaters and unvented room heaters under separate standards, and the service steps in each manual follow the same split.
