Gas Fireplace Repair in Calabasas, CA

Gas fireplace won't light, or lights and dies

Pilot holds while you press the knob. Release it, the flame drops. That's almost always the thermocouple or thermopile. Standing-pilot valves run on millivolts the pilot itself generates. A tired thermopile can't hold the valve open. Soot on the pilot hood misaims the flame. Spider webbing and dust plug the orifice. Nine months with the fireplace cold invites both.

Sealed direct-vent inserts fail differently. The glass sits on a gasket. Break that seal and combustion air changes. Logs set outside the maker's layout block burner ports, and you get carbon on the ceramic and black film on the glass. Soot on a sealed unit is a venting problem, not a cleaning problem.

Vented log sets in open masonry need the damper clamped open. In older brick stacks with clay tile liners, that clamp is often missing entirely. We also find log sets dropped into zero-clearance prefab fireboxes never rated for them. Spark arrestor screens packed with eucalyptus litter kill the draft and push odor into the room.

Electronic ignition adds battery packs, flame-rectification modules, corroded switch wire, and dead remote receivers. Honest limit: on some 1970s and 1980s prefabs the valve is discontinued and the metal is warped from over-firing. Replacement beats chasing parts.