Family-owned gas fireplace repair serving Pershing

Converting between propane and natural gas

A fireplace built for natural gas cannot just be switched to propane, or the other way round. Each manual we checked says the appliance runs only on the gas type on its rating plate unless the maker's conversion kit is used, and one insert maker adds that a qualified service technician makes the conversion with its specified and approved parts.

A conversion changes more than a label. The orifice size differs between the two gases, and the air shutter table in that maker's installation manual gives different settings for natural gas and propane on several models. The same manual opens its conversion steps by asking for the appliance to be checked against the gas types actually available.

If the gas at the house has changed, or the fireplace came from somewhere else, the plate and the parts inside are compared with the gas actually supplied. A kit conversion, where the maker offers one, is quoted as its own line on the estimate.

A blower that will not run

The fan in a gas fireplace is a separate system from the flame. One maker's millivolt direct vent manual says the fireplace works without any electrical supply and that electricity is only needed to operate the blower. A fire that lights normally therefore says little about why the fan in your Pershing home is silent.

Some fans are meant to wait. Heat & Glo's remote guide explains that its fan starts after a three minute delay so the air around the unit heats first, and that on battery backup during a power outage the remote will not run the fan at all. Those are ruled out first, then the parts the fan depends on are tested in turn.

The fan repair stays its own estimate line, apart from any ignition work. That way you can see what each fault costs and approve them separately.

• Power at the receptacle that feeds the fan
• The thermostatic sensor that switches it on
• The speed control or remote fan setting
• The motor and its wiring

Controls with no power at all

An electronic ignition fireplace that shows no sign of life, no click, no beep and no spark, points to power before gas. The troubleshooting table for one electronic system starts with AC power at the junction box, the adapter that feeds the module and the position of the module's selector switch. Its installation manual also calls for a reset switch on the surround that must be installed and on for the appliance to operate.

The same manual sets two wiring rules. The power cord of that ignition system must not be wired to a switched circuit, because that overrides the safety lockout, and where the fireplace sits in a bathroom or near a sink, the circuit needs ground-fault protection under the electrical codes. Our technician works along the path below and prices the part that failed.

• The breaker and the outlet the cord plugs into
• The reset switch on the surround
• The adapter between the cord and the module
• Backup batteries, where the system uses them

Clicking without a flame on an electronic system

On an electronic ignition fireplace, the clicking is the igniter sparking at the pilot. If the pilot does not light, the module does not spark forever. The electronic controls in the manuals we have read spark for a set time, then lock out and signal the fault, and one system also locks out after repeated failed attempts to relight a pilot lost during operation.

Resetting again and again is not the answer. Heat & Glo warns not to cycle its module's selector switch more than once within five minutes, because gas may accumulate in the firebox, and to call a qualified service technician instead.

Our technician follows the maker's lockout table in order. The checks run through gas reaching the pilot, the spark landing in the path of the gas, the ground to the chassis and the valve itself, and the part that fails its check is the one named on your estimate.