Honest gas fireplace repair for Tangerine homeowners

Finding the right manual for your model

Makers such as Heat & Glo publish manuals by model and keep them in an online library. The right one depends on the exact model on the rating plate, and a single fireplace often has more than one document.

That maker's owner manual itself sends the technician to the installation manual for the air shutter setting and to the parts list for orifice sizing. A setting borrowed from a similar model can be wrong for yours.

Work is done from the documents for your exact unit, and the estimate cites the parts and settings they call for. If none can be found for the model, the estimate says so. These are the three we look for.

• The owner manual, for operation, safety notes and owner upkeep
• The installation manual, for air shutter, restrictor, log and ember settings
• The service parts list, for part numbers and orifice sizes

Lint and pet hair in the air passages

Warm air leaves a gas fireplace through passages around the firebox, often pushed by a fan. The manuals say control compartments, burners and circulating air passages must be kept clean, and that more frequent cleaning may be needed where there is excessive lint and dust from carpeting, bedding material or pet hair.

Lint gathers where air is drawn in and around the burner injector. The cleaning section of a direct vent manual has the area around the injector checked and any lint or foreign material removed with a brush or vacuum. Verifying unobstructed air circulation is also on the yearly technician list in one owner's manual.

A fireplace next to carpet, a pet bed or a busy sofa can need this sooner than the calendar suggests. On a service visit in Tangerine, our technician turns off the gas and power, vacuums the reachable passages and the burner area, and tells you whether the amount of lint points to shorter service intervals.

If you smell gas near the fireplace

Natural gas and propane have no smell of their own. The fireplace manuals explain that an odorant is added so a leak can be noticed, and warn that the odor can fade, so gas may be present even when you notice no odor. Some gas is heavier than air and settles near the floor.

When there is a smell of gas, the manuals and the NFPA heating safety tip sheet agree on what comes first. Leaving comes before calling.

Only after the gas company or fire department says the home is safe should anyone look at the fireplace again. That look is work for a qualified service person.

• Do not light the fireplace or any other appliance
• Do not touch electrical switches or use a phone inside
• Get everyone out of the home
• Call the gas company or 911 from outside

A gas fireplace that has been under water

Water and gas controls do not mix. The manuals we have read agree on this. An appliance with any part that has been under water stays off until a qualified service technician has inspected it and replaced each part of the control system and each gas control that got wet. That holds even when the unit looks clean and dry afterward.

One natural vent manual goes further and calls for arranging replacement of the unit. Another simply tells owners to keep the appliance dry, because water may damage controls. The state fuel gas code also sets rules for where appliances sit in flood hazard areas, which matters if the fireplace is replaced.

We read the model from the rating plate, find that model's instructions and list every control part the maker calls for, or the replacement option where the manual requires it. The fireplace is not lit until that work is done.