The gas fireplace consists of incombustible logs covering gas vents, and the fire itself burns behind glass doors. It gives off both radiant and convection heat and provides an experience similar to an open fire. One benefit of a gas fireplace is that it may help lower heating bills.

Note: If at any moment when inspecting gas fireplace the area smells tremendously like gas, and you don't know where it is coming from, then you need to leave the area and get help immediately.

My Pilot Stays Lit but Eventually Goes Out:
For sealed Direct Vent fireplaces, blockage in venting can cause the fireplace to shut down. Birds, bats, mice, and other vermin are sometimes known to build nests inside/on top of fireplace terminations. Because the fireplace cannot expel the exhaust or cannot get enough oxygen, the flame will “starve” for air and eventually everything will go out (including the pilot light). This will happen within minutes of initially turning on the fireplace. One way to verify this is to try running the fireplace for a short period of time with the glass removed or cracked open slightly. If it runs fine with the glass off or open a bit, you can defiantly determine it has an issue with the venting, most likely blockage that needs to be cleaned out.

Weak Pilot Flame:
Another reason your pilot may cut out could be related to your pilot light flame. After you first turn it on, the fireplace will start to create draft as the chimney heats up. If your pilot flame is more “candle like” and less “blow torch like” you may see the draft start to affect the pilot flame as the fireplace heats up. WATCH the pilot light as the fireplace heats up. If you see the flame start to pull away from the thermocouple or thermopile sensors, these sensors will not have enough heat to keep the main control valve open, and the pilot light may go out. If it seems like this is happening, its best to replace the pilot assembly.

If your pilot light will not stay lit, it can only be three problems

1) Your pilot flame is bad
2) Your thermocouple sensor is bad
3) Your main control valve is bad

Just from experience, 99% of the time, the first two are the case. It is very rare for a main control valve to go bad. The good news is that each of these parts can be tested!

Wall switch issues:
The most simple of these issues, and consequently the most common, is a bad wall switch. Every year we always get tons of service calls that are the result of a faulty wall switch. Again, this is probably the easiest thing to test and replace.

Reposted From: mygasfireplacerepair.com