Gas fireplaces are a wonderful convenience. You don’t have to bother with wood but you still get that cozy feeling of having an attractive fireplace that gives you clean, dependable warmth.
Occasionally, however, you might run into issues. So, what can you do if your gas fireplace keeps going out but the pilot light seems to be working fine?
Today we’ll walk you through some things which you can do that will hopefully resolve the issue. Let’s get started on what you will need to check
Reasons Your Gas Fireplace Keeps Going Out But Pilot Stays On
1. Check the Color of your Pilot Light
While your pilot light is staying lit, we still want to take a look at it because it might give us a telltale clue about what is really going on. The color of your pilot light is important for determining if there are some gas flow issues.
A healthy pilot light is going to burn a brilliant blue. If your pilot light is sometimes blue, sometimes yellow, or simply a weak yellow light then this means that it is not getting a proper gas flow to it.
If your pilot light is a healthy blue, then don’t worry, we still have some other things which we can check to see why your fireplace keeps going out.
Also read – how to light a gas fireplace with electronic ignition
2. The Burners Might need Cleaning
One of the most common reasons why a gas fireplace will have a lit pilot light but an interior fire that keeps going out is that the burner ports are clogged.
This might well be the case if you’ve got a wildly inefficient performance from the fireplace for some time before it began completely dying out at random.
Thankfully, cleaning those burners is a piece of cake. Just follow the steps that we’ll list below and see if this fixes the issue.
3. Cleaning your Gas Fireplace the Right Way
If you want to clean your fireplace burners then you’ll need to get a vacuum with a hose-attachment and a soft-bristled toothbrush ready and follow a few simple steps. Note: If you want to use any cleaning fluids, be sure that you don’t use anything flammable.
That said, here is what you need to do:
- Turn off the power to your fireplace and turn the gas valve off. Give your fireplace a good enough time to cool down, typically half an hour is going to be fine.
- If you have synthetic logs in your gas fireplace, check your manual for proper removal instructions and get them out where you can see them.
- Scrub at the burner inside the fireplace with your soft-bristled toothbrush and you’ll also want to scrub out any dirty portions of your logs.
- Power on your vacuum and use the handy hose attachment to vacuum up the inside of your gas fireplace thoroughly. Be sure to get all of the parts of the burner assembly as well as the area around where the pilot light is housed and vacuum all the areas that you cleaned with your brush as well.
- Put your logs back the way that you found them and relight the pilot and test functionality. Consult your manual if you aren’t sure about the relighting steps and if you are uncomfortable with any part of this process, don’t hesitate to call a technician.
Once we’ve ruled out clogged burner ports then there are still a few other potential issues that might be handled more easily with the help of a technician.
We’ll outline the remaining most likely causes and give you the steps to check just in case you’d prefer to do things yourself.
4. Gas Pressure Might not be Sufficient
Checking your gas pressure is actually easier than it sounds. Your repair technician is typically going to use a tool called a manometer to determine the gas pressure that is present when your fireplace is trying to function so that they can determine if it is correct and optimal.
If the pressure is incorrect, your technician can often recalibrate it in order to restore the proper gas flow. Now, if you DO happen to have a manometer then you can certainly check the pressure yourself. Just use the steps below so that you can see what’s going on with the gas pressure in your fireplace.
5. Checking the Gas Pressure in your Fireplace
If you want to check the gas pressure for your fireplace then you will want to follow these steps:
- Make sure that your gas is switched off. Once you’ve confirmed this, look for some taps that you should see near the switch which are labeled ‘in’ and ‘out’.
- Now we want to loosen the inlet screws but take care not to completely remove them. At this point you’ll want to place the Manometer tube over the inlet screw, making sure that it’s snugly and firmly in place.
- Turn on your gas and see what reading that you get with your Manometer. Compare this with the gas pressure recommendation listed in the manual for your gas fireplace to see if it is an optimal pressure.
- Nest we want to target the outlet tap, so turn the gas off again and loosen this screw but don’t remove it. Place the manometer tube over this screw and make sure that it’s firmly attached and then turn on your gas.
- Light the pilot light and turn on the burner so that you can get a reading while it’s working. Check this against the recommended pressure in your manual.
Follow these steps as-listed and without deviation and you should have an accurate reading of your fireplace’s gas pressure to rule out any issues of this sort.
6. The gas Valve could be Bad
Usually, your gas valve is going to be good for the lifetime of your fireplace, but they can and do occasionally go bad. Checking the gas valve has a lot of potential for issues, however, so we would recommend that you get a technician to do this to avoid voiding your warranty or making any other potentially costly mistakes.
7. It could be a Drip-Loop Issue
One component of your fireplace is called a drip loop and it’s there to keep water away from electrical components. Occasionally, too much moisture may be present in the drip loop and this can affect the performance of your gas fireplace. A build-up of moisture occurs in these cases, which dilutes your gas.
The diluted gas, of course, is harder to ignite and maintain and this leads to your gas fireplace going out or sometimes not even lighting at all. A technician is your best bet in this case as they should be able to quickly diagnose this issue without any potential damage to your gas fireplace.
Some Final Words on your Gas Fireplace
Today we’ve discussed some of the most common reasons why your pilot is lit but your gas fireplace keeps going out. As you can see, most of the reasons that this occurs can be checked quite easily if you are the DIY type, but if you feel uncomfortable with these steps then you should not hesitate to contact a professional.
Going with a professional helps to ensure that you get your heat up and running quickly and a reputable pro is going to stand by their work, so if the issue reoccurs in a day or two then you know that they are going to come back and get the job done.
We hope that you find these tips useful and we wish you a warm and care-free winter with your loved ones and that modern marvel – your amazing gas fireplace!