On an island where a stray car or a November windstorm can put a good chunk of the Peninsula in the dark for half a day, this is a pretty common question we get. A gas fireplace seems like it ought to be the one thing that carries on regardless. With older fireplaces this was always the case, but with newer fireplaces the answer is not always so clear-cut.
The short answer
| Type of fireplace | During a power cut | Fan |
|---|---|---|
| Standing pilot (a pilot you light by hand) | Works normally. No wall power needed to light it. | Will not run |
| Electronic ignition (pilot lights from the remote) | Usually will not light, unless it has a battery backup pack fitted and the batteries are good. | Will not run |
| Power vent (vent fan runs while the fire burns) | Will not light. The vent fan needs wall power, so the unit locks out without it. | Will not run |
| Double glass (glass barrier instead of a screen) | Will not light during a power cut. | Will not run |
How to tell which one you have
Looking for a pilot flame is not a reliable test — many newer units have a cold weather mode that keeps a pilot burning through the winter, so seeing a flame with the fireplace off does not settle it. A better test is how the pilot gets lit in the first place:
- You light it from the remote or wall control. If the pilot comes on from the remote, or lights itself when you call for heat, that is electronic ignition, sometimes called intermittent pilot. The spark needs power — typically a small transformer plugged into an outlet near the fireplace. Most units sold in the last fifteen years or so work this way, because not burning a pilot flame all summer saves a fair bit of gas.
- You have to get down underneath and light it by hand — holding a knob in while pressing a sparker, BBQ style. That is a standing pilot — also called a continuous pilot or a millivolt system. It generates its own tiny electrical current from the heat of the pilot flame, which is how it can open the gas valve with no mains power at all. Older units are mostly these.
If you have electronic ignition, look for the backup battery pack
This is often a small black box that takes 4x AA batteries, usually connected by a red and black wire running to the circuit board. Many electronic-ignition fireplaces are fitted with one so they will light during an outage. Find out now whether yours has one, because the middle of a dark, cold evening is a poor time to go looking.
The pack is usually underneath the fireplace. If you find one, check the batteries are fresh and not corroded — a backup pack that has been sitting on dead batteries for six years will not help you. Heat makes batteries corrode faster inside a fireplace than they would elsewhere, and once they have corroded, the pack itself may stop working even with fresh batteries.
A caution: on some control systems the backup batteries are not intended to be left in during normal running, and leaving them installed can damage the board. If you are not certain which system you have, ask your service tech rather than guessing.
The fan will not run either way
The blower needs mains power, so during an outage it stays off regardless of ignition type. The fireplace still produces the same heat — it simply radiates into the room instead of being pushed around by the fan. In a power cut you will find the room right in front of the fireplace gets warm while the far corners stay cold. That is normal and nothing is wrong.
One safety point that matters
Never use a barbecue, camp stove, patio heater or gas range to heat the house. Every winter this puts people in hospital. Those appliances are not vented and produce carbon monoxide indoors, which you cannot smell and which will not wake you up. A properly installed and vented fireplace is a completely different thing — it is sealed and vented outside, which is why it is safe to run for hours.
While we are on the subject: if your carbon monoxide alarm is more than ten years old, replace it. They expire.
What to do before storm season
- Work out which type you have, using the flame test above, so you already know what to expect
- Find the battery backup pack if you have electronic ignition, and put fresh batteries in it
- Test the fireplace in early autumn rather than on the first cold night — if something is wrong you will have found it while we still have appointments free
- Have it serviced annually. Batteries get changed, the pilot and safety controls get tested, and most of the faults that strand people in December get caught in September
If it will not light and the power is on
Then the outage is not your problem, and run through the checks in gas fireplace won’t turn on? Five things to check before you call — plenty of those calls end up being a battery in a place the homeowner did not know existed.
If you smell gas at any point, leave the building and call the FortisBC 24-hour line at 1-800-663-7200 (or your gas safety authority if outside of BC) before anything else.
Otherwise, book a service visit or call us on (250) 544-6789. We look after all makes and models across Victoria, Saanich, Central Saanich, Sidney, the Peninsula and the Westshore.