Honest gas fireplace repair for Storey Park homeowners

Plugged or corroded burner ports

The burner is a hollow pan or tube with rows of small ports, and the flame is only as good as those openings. Dust, lint, stray ember material and corrosion can block them one by one. Two vent manuals ask for the burner porting and air openings to be kept free of obstructions at all times.

A yearly technician checklist we work from puts it in three steps. Clean off the burner top, inspect it for plugged ports, corrosion or deterioration, and replace the burner if necessary. Corrosion or deterioration that has changed the ports cannot be cleaned away, which is why the checklist allows for replacement.

Ports are cleaned where the manual allows, and the flame is then watched across the whole burner. When replacement is the answer, the estimate names the burner from the maker's parts list for your model, priced separately from the service work.

Odor on the first burns after service or install

New fireplaces, and units that have just had parts replaced, often give off a smell the first times they run. Heat & Glo's manual explains that the paint is curing and oils left from manufacturing are burning off, and that the odor can last for the first several hours. It asks owners to open windows during that break-in and warns that smoke alarms may go off.

A break-in smell fades as the hours add up. One that stays strong afterward, or seems musty, is another matter, since another maker warns that mold or rust may cause odors and asks for the appliance to be kept dry. A smell of gas is not break-in odor at all, and the answer then is to leave the home and phone the gas company or 911 once you are outside.

For homes in Storey Park, our technician starts an odor question with how new the unit or part is, how long it has run and whether the smell changes with the fan. The answer goes on your written estimate before anything is changed.

Hot glass, children and pets around the fireplace

The glass on a gas fireplace gets hot enough to burn, and it stays hot for a while after the flame goes out. The manuals we have read warn that surfaces remain hot after shutdown and that toddlers, young children and others may be susceptible to accidental contact burns. Glass cleaning instructions from another maker also say to keep children and pets a safe distance away.

That concern runs through an insert owner's manual as well, which lists practical steps for households with small children or other at-risk people. Each one is easy to keep up.

Some remotes also have a child lock switch tucked inside the battery compartment. Before a serviced unit is lit again, the barrier's fit is checked.

• Keep the barrier in place whenever the fireplace runs
• Fit a switch lock or a remote with a child lockout
• Keep remote controls out of reach
• Never leave children alone near it, lit or cooling

A gas fireplace burns gas and nothing else

The logs in a gas fireplace look real, and that tempts some owners to add something. Two vent manuals from one maker are firm. Do not use any solid fuel such as wood, coal, paper or cardboard, do not cook food or burn other objects, and use only the gas type shown on the rating plate. Heatilator adds that gasoline, lantern fuel, kerosene and charcoal lighter fluid must never go into the appliance.

The direct vent one of the pair also warns never to connect the fireplace to a private, non-utility gas well. The burner, logs and ports are built around one fuel, and anything else in the firebox is outside what the appliance is listed for.

When our technician finds paper, trash or other burned material in a firebox, it is removed as one maker's yearly task list directs for foreign objects, and the logs, ember material and burner ports are checked for anything it left behind. What that finding needs, if anything, goes on the estimate.