QUESTION FROM Lezile

We have a gas fireplace that has a switch that turns the gas on and off. With the pilot light on. When we turn on the fireplace it runs for awhile and then it quits and sometimes it starts up again in a little while. How do we figure out what is wrong? What type of repair person takes care of this?

ANSWER FROM HOME-WIZARD

Lezlie:

It sounds like your gas fireplace could have a thermostat control, that when the room (or fireplace unit) come up to temperature, that it tells the fireplace to shutdown. Then when the room (or unit) cools down, it tells it to come back on. And it would work like this when the switch for the fireplace was in the "on" position.

A common "complaint" with gas fireplaces is that they are so efficient, that they can heat up a room fairly quickly, and then if they have a thermostat control, they will shut down to keep from overheating the room. One way around this is to turn down the flame settings down as low as possible, but you lose the nice look of the flames in the fireplace. And another alternative, is with some models, you can add piping and a blower that takes heat from the fireplace and has it blow into an adjacent room (if your rooms will allow this configuration). This way the fireplace can run, but not all the heat goes into the room it is in (so the fireplace can run longer).

Getting back to your question about a service person, I would suggest that you contact the manufacturer of your particular brand of fireplace, and ask them for a list of qualified and trained service technicians in your area who they have approved to work on your brand of fireplace.

Hope this is helpful.
Home-Wizard.com

FOLLOW-UP FROM Lezile

Re: Gas Fireplace, that was extremely helpful.
Thanks!