Local gas fireplace repair with a free inspection in Wyndham Lakes

A spark igniter that clicks without lighting

The click tells you the igniter button works. It does not prove a spark is reaching the pilot, or that gas is there to catch it.

The standing pilot charts we have read give four causes, and two of them are not igniter faults at all. Gas has to reach the pilot before any spark can light it, and those supply causes are sent to a plumber or the gas supplier. A spark that jumps somewhere other than the pilot belongs to the igniter check.

We find which cause applies before quoting a pilot assembly, and a supply problem goes on the estimate as a referral rather than a part. The four are checked in this order.

• A spark wire that has come off the igniter
• A faulty igniter with no spark at the electrode
• A closed shutoff or low gas pressure
• An empty propane tank

A pilot that keeps going out

A standing pilot that goes out now and then, rather than refusing to light, has its own list of causes. In one maker's millivolt charts, frequent pilot outage is traced first to a pilot flame that is too high or too low, which lets the pilot safety drop out. The remedy listed is cleaning and adjusting the pilot for full contact with the thermocouple.

Other causes sit outside the pilot. The same manuals say the fireplace should not be installed in windy or drafty areas, and they list vent faults among the reasons the pilot and burner can go out together while running.

Our crew in Wyndham Lakes cleans and adjusts the pilot as your model's manual allows and watches it through a full run. A vent fault found along the way is written up separately for our venting service.

Why the fireplace is isolated during a line pressure test

When house gas piping is pressure tested, the fuel gas code sets a minimum test pressure, and any appliance designed for less than that pressure has to be disconnected and its outlet capped first. One insert maker's installation manual gives the same step, warning that pressure above its stated limit damages the gas valve control, and that limit sits well below the code's minimum test pressure.

This matters after other gas work, such as a new range or water heater or a change to the piping. A fireplace valve that worked before the job and fails right after it may have seen test pressure it was never meant to handle.

Pressure testing house piping is work for the plumber or gas installer, not for our crew. What we do is check the fireplace valve and its regulator after such work and note on the estimate whether damage to the valve control is the likely cause. If piping work is planned, pass this warning to whoever will do it.

Low gas pressure and its causes

When the readings show the fireplace is short of gas, the fault may sit outside the fireplace. One of the manuals we have read adds that supply piping has to be sized to deliver the minimum inlet pressure at full flow, since pipe that is too small causes undue pressure loss.

That manual also warns that excess thread sealant inside a pipe can clog the burner system's valves. Changing that piping is a job for the plumber or qualified gas installer, and our crew does not alter it.

We measure at the appliance, confirm the fireplace side is sound and write the finding on your estimate so the right trade can take it from there. The charts we follow list these causes of low pressure.

• A bent line feeding the appliance
• A restriction in the line
• Low pressure in the supply itself
• A propane tank that has run empty