Some gas fireplaces use electricity to start the pilot light. Propane gas fireplaces burn fuel supplied by propane tanks. They use a safety pilot control valve to start or ignite a pilot light. A pilot light is a small flame used to ignite the burner or start the fire in the fireplace and increase the height of the fire flame. When the pilot light goes out, it could be difficult to get it to light back up. Fortunately, safety pilot control valves make this process quick and easy for you to do. Open the shutoff valve on the gas line connected to your fireplace by rotating it a quarter turn counter-clockwise from the off position. The shutoff valve should be somewhere on the gas line near the fireplace. Press the fireplace safety pilot control knob down and hold it as you turn it over to the pilot position. Continue to hold the knob down for five seconds to give the propane enough time to flow through the hose that connects the propane gas line to the fireplace. Press and hold down the fireplace control knob while simultaneously pressing the ignite button.

If the pilot light does not catch fire immediately, you may need to press and release the ignite button several times before it will start. Keep holding the control knob down for another 30 seconds to ensure that the pilot light remains lit. When the pilot light turns dark purple-blue or the ignite button indicator light turns red, the pilot light is successfully lit. Warning References Northline Express: Propane Gas Safety Pilot KitPG&E: Turning Your Gas Off Photo Credits George Doyle/Stockbyte/Getty Images Suggest a CorrectionAspirin Causes Weight LossHomeowner Support   /Troubleshooting & FAQs   /Lighting Your PilotMirror To Wall Glue CAUTION: ALWAYS REMOVE YOUR FIREPLACE GLASS PRIOR TO LIGHTING YOUR PILOTBuy Used Textbooks TorontoPlease visit the troubleshooting guide options or continue reading for a more in depth look at gas fireplaces and how they work.

My Pilot Stays Lit But Eventually Goes Out My Pilot Light Will Not Stay Lit How to Light Your Pilot Light Is My Pilot Light Lit? How to Test your Thermopile The Main Burner Flame Will Not Come On or Stay On How to Test Your Main Control Valve Fireplace Cold Air Issues What Type of Gas Fireplace Do You Have? Dirty Glass and Other Maintenance Issues Dirty Glass, & Other Maintenance Items When it comes to gas fireplace repair, it is important to know which type you have and how they work, so that you can have a better understanding of why they might be malfunctioning when they start giving you problems. There are basically 3 different types of gas fireplaces: For diagnosing purposes it is easiest to categorize fireplaces by their control system. And probably the easiest way to tell which type of system your gas fireplace uses  is to determine how you would normally operate it. With a milivolt or IPI system, you would normally turn the main burner flame on and off with a wall switch  where a standard system involves physically turning a knob or lever to turn the flame on and off (we will explain how each of these systems works later).

The difference between a millivolt or IPI system is whether you have a standing pilot light or not.  Millivolt systems have a pilot light (that tiny little flame that runs constantly) and would normally have to be re-lit if it were to go out.  IPI systems have no pilot light until you turn on your wall switch.  With IPI, your pilot will electronically light itself after you flip on your wall switch.  IPI is a relatively new system.  You can also look at your rating place (see our What Type of Gas Fireplace Do I Have? page to see where to find your rating plate) and most often it will tell you what type of gas fireplace you have.  The most common type of gas fireplace is a millivolt system. A millivolt system gets its power from the pilot light.  The anatomy of a pilot light will look something like this: To put it simply, the pilot light consists of three main parts. Most of the time gas fireplaces also have some sort of spark ignition system (piezo ignitor electrode as shown in the picture) to help assist you in relighting your pilot so you don’t have to light it with a match. 

The piezo ignitor is usually connected to a button that will create a spark when the button is depressed. The pilot flame will heat up both the thermocouple and thermopile sensors.  These sensors contain material that will create a small amount of voltage (under 1 volt) when they are heated up. The thermocouple will create around 20-30 millivolts when enough heat is applied to it (.03 volts which is less that you can feel).  This sensor is connected to the main control valve.  This thermocouple will create enough electricity to keep the part of the gas valve open that controls gas flow to the pilot assembly.  This is why the pilot will stay lit on its own after initially lighting the pilot and heating up the thermocouple. This is also why it will stop releasing gas if your pilot light goes out. The thermopile is basically just a large thermocouple (actually a group of thermocouples inside a metal shell). But instead of creating 20-30 millivolts, it generates up to 900 millivolts.  

Although this seems like a lot, this is still under one volt of electricity (again not enough to even feel) but has enough power to open an electromagnet inside the main burner when you press your wall switch.Now that the official start of spring has passed, I inevitably see more people grilling outdoors. While this should be a joyous occasion, there's an evil that goes alongside the times that constantly irks me to no end: lighter fluid. Ever since I bought my first grill, invited some friends over, and started the fire with match light charcoal (coals already coated in lighter fluid), the stuff has been my mortal enemy. On that fateful day, I followed protocol and let the coals burn until covered with gray ash before grilling, but even after that the first few rounds of food that came off the grill all had the horrible hint of chemical cooked in, not to mention the distinct lighter fluid odor that made its home in our clothes and hair for the rest of the day. It doesn't take much to get a fire going without lighter fluid, so hopefully I can help make this stuff a thing of the past with a few helpful hints.

If you want the quickest and easiest way to light a fire, you have to go out and get yourself a chimney starter. This model from Weber is my favorite for size and usability. The concept of the chimney starter is fairly simple: You load up the space on the bottom with a piece of newspaper or two, pile coals in from the top, then light the newspaper. The fire and heat from the newspaper ignites the bottom coals, then the fire builds up. When the top coals are covered with gray ash, you're ready to go. Since the coals are concentrated in a relatively small space vertically, a chimney starter is incredibly effective, lighting enough coals for a 22" kettle in about 15 to 20 minutes. I find this method to be faster than using lighter fluid, and there's no lingering chemical smell just waiting to ruin your food. Weber 7416 Rapidfire Chimney Starter If you find yourself without a chimney starter, you can apply a similar method without the added equipment. Simply bunch up a couple pieces of newspaper and place them in the middle of the charcoal grate.

Then build the coals up around the paper in a pyramid fashion, light the newspaper, and let it go. This will take longer to fully light than with a chimney, but the fire should still be ready in less time than it would take to burn off all traces of lighter fluid. Now that I've shared my most used methods of starting a fire, I'll admit that I've been in situations where I have had no other choice except to give into my arch enemy. In these scenarios I found a way to make use of lighter fluid without the unpleasant effects I experienced in my first use. I'll start the fire by squirting some fluid on a handful of coals placed on the charcoal grate. Once those get going, I'll pile on the rest and let them light. Sure, this way is time consuming, but I'd rather be safe than sorry when it comes time to start grilling. There are other charcoal starting devices out there, but none that I've found any use for as long as I just have some old newspaper and a lighter on hand. While I know that using lighter fluid is ingrained in our collective psyche, I hope that, armed with these simple and effective alternatives, I'll see fewer and fewer bottles of that chemical nastiness as each spring comes around.