The purpose of the fireplace isn’t hidden from anybody who has ever survived the cold winter nights. It provides a safer level of warmth and helps you gather and relax with your family and friends. In addition, the current-era fireplaces are cleaner and safer than traditional fireplaces due to a bunch of high-end technologies. On top of that, you can buy these at a comparatively lesser price and enjoy a pleasing combination of warmth, aesthetics, and more.
A fireplace is a necessity for any home but there are some common problems that often occur with it. The first and most important issue is shutting off the fireplace. If you want to know why my gas fireplace keeps shutting off, then this post is for you. Most of the time, you can resolve this issue rather than purchasing a new fireplace. In this post, we look into the issues of the problem and their solution along with some other facts as well.
Table of Contents
Precautions if the gas fireplace keeps shutting off
Since the fireplace uses gas to do the combustion there are some precautions you need to know to avoid any type of danger. Some important ones include
- If it’s possible, ask a professional to detect and fix the issues rather than jump into the process without any knowledge.
- If you want to fix it on your own, wear all the safety tools like a mask, an operational uniform, and all the required stuff.
- Make sure to turn off the fire before working and that there are no gas leaks nearby or in the fireplace.
Reasons why the gas fireplace shuts off
Pilot light issues
I’m sure that most of the readers are familiar with this term. The pilot light is a small blue-colored flame that ignites when you turn the key or just flip the switch. It’s quite easy to burn up the fire rather than using a bunch of kindling to catch the fire. Ineffective working conditions, the flame is a mixture of blue with a little touch of yellow accent. If the flame showcases either yellow or red flame, it’s an indication that the pilot light is in bad condition.
If the fireplace is not getting fire or the gas fireplace shuts off, most probably it’s due to some faults in the pilot light. There are two ways to solve the issue, pilot blockage due to dust or faulty thermocouple and thermopile. If it’s happening due to the first reason, you just need to clean the pilot assembly and the pilot itself. The reason behind cleaning the dust is that it’s producing a lazy flame rather than what is required which is ultimately not reaching the thermocouple to turn the fire on.
Faulty thermocouple or thermopile
Thermocouples and thermopiles are two different elements in a gas fireplace. The thermocouple measures the gas flow and supplies the gas to the burner via a valve where the thermopile opens up the valve. In short, both help in supplying the gas to the fireplace and transform the heat into electricity.
Checking the thermopile:
To check it, you first need to find the main gas-control valve and then the thermopile sensor with some labels like TH/TP and TP on it–you can use the instruction manual as well to find these. Use the multimeter on both terminals and there must be 300 millivolts or higher. If there is any reading below this limit, the thermopile must be clean. In addition, if it’s still showing lesser voltages, it needs to be replaced.
Checking the thermocouple:
If you have checked the thermopile and it’s fine with a 300mV or millivolts reading on the multimeter, it’s probably time to check the thermocouple. The same multimeter test is applied to the thermocouple as well but it must be showing at least 25mV or higher to be in good working condition. If it’s anything below the 25-limit, you must replace it.
Faulty oxy pilot
The oxy pilot is an essential part of any gas fireplace since it guarantees your safety by sensing the oxygen level nearby. If there is less oxygen than at the safer level, it automatically turns off the fireplace preventing the production of carbon monoxide. No doubt, it’s a great safety feature but it’s quite disturbing in faulty conditions. If it’s faulty, it will start working without any reason and keep turning off the fire without any reason.
There are a number of reasons for such misbehavior of the oxy pilot. The first and most common reason for this is the clogging of the oxy pilot due to dust and dirt. You can clean it out on your own but it’s quite a risky process. I suggest you call a professional if you know this is the reason the gas fireplace shuts off since you are dealing with carbon monoxide. If it is still not working, you must replace it with a new one.
Some other reasons
If you have applied all the above steps and taken all the necessary steps, your fireplace must be working. In contrast, if still, your gas fireplace turns off by itself, there are chances of having some deeper issues. These are complex types of issues and only some experts can check and cure these issues. In this section, I’ll discuss some of those.
Gas service pressure:
Several fireplaces have some issues related to gas pressure. If the gas service pressure isn’t set correctly according to the requirement, the fire won’t remain lit most of the time. In this case, you must call a professional technician or utility service person who knows the issue and can set the ideal pressure.
Drip loop:
A drip loop uses gravity to keep the gas or moisture flowing through the pipe or loop and any type of failure in this loop disturbs the gas flow which ultimately affects the working of the fire unit. Due to this problem, the moisture in the gas line dilutes the gas. In this situation, only an expert technician can work out the problem.
Gas valve:
Having an out-of-order gas valve is the most uncommon issue a fireplace can have but still, this can happen since it’s a working part. Most of the time, this happens when you have been using the fireplace for a long span of time. Remember, only an expert can detect this issue and fix it because it’s quite an important element.
Conclusion of gas fireplace keeps shutting off
A fireplace is a necessity for every home to fight against the cold weather and survive the chilled nights. On top of that, it provides some extra benefits rather than just keeping the home warmer including safety, clean operation, and more. In addition, these are available at a lesser price than traditional old-school fireplaces. No doubt, it’s a great addition to the home but sometimes the gas fireplace shuts off automatically that’s an issue.
Therefore, we have tried our best to find the solution and answer why my gas fireplace keeps shutting off. There are numerous reasons for this issue where some need to be addressed by a professional and few can be resolved by a common person. You can solve any issue related to the pilot light, thermocouple, thermopile, or oxy pilot. However, issues like gas service pressure, drip loop, or gas valve can be resolved only by an expert technician.