QUESTION FROM Jason

I have 2 gas fireplaces. One of them is peculiar. When I light the pilot light it has a constant whooshing sound. It is amazingly loud - you can hear it thruoughout the entire room. What can be done to tone this down???

My gas fireplace pilot light: it constantly roars loud enough to be heard throughout the entire room. This is different from the my other fireplace which is the same model and manufacturer. Is something wrong? something bent? something that can be adjusted??

ANSWER FROM POLICY-Wizard™

Dear Jason:

There are a couple of reasons why if you have two gas fireplaces that are the same make and model, that one unit's pilot light could sound louder than the other unit's pilot light.

1) Depending on which brand of gas fireplace that you have, many of them have an adjustment screw that allows you to turn up and down the pilot light. So your louder unit may be adjusted higher than your other unit. You can check with your manufacturer to see if your particular unit's pilot light can be adjusted.

2) The acoustics of the room that your fireplace is in and how the fireplace is installed in the room can also have an impact on how the sound from the pilot light is amplified. For example is one unit installed in a corner, versus the other in the middle of the wall? How are the units mounted to the wall? What is immediately adjacent to the fireplace? Is it just walls, or is it bookcases? And so on.

3) If both fireplace are in the same house, then most likely they both have the same gas pressure, but if for some reason the line pressure for one unit's pilot was very different than the other's, then this could be a cause of one pilot being louder than the other.

Hope this is helpful.
Home-Wizard.com

FOLLOW-UP FROM Jason

I appreciate your response.

It is kind of one of those - you have to be there to understand, kind of things. The placement in the room is the same(middle of the wall). The square footage is a little different - 250ft in the room with no noise & 200 ft in the room with noise. The difference in sq ft. does not warrant the diff in sound. One you can't hear the pilot sitting on the hearth, the other you can hear very distinctly sitting across the room. It is a real roaring. I am a remodeling contractor and I am telling you it is weird. It sounds like a MAPP gas torch turned full blast. I will try and get in touch with someone at the manufacturer. Someone that will know if there is an adjustment screw. Also, problem is finding a label for the manufacturer.

Thank you.

ANSWER FROM POLICY-Wizard™

Dear Jason:

Yes, the differences in the two rooms/installations does not appear sufficient to warrant such a dramatic difference in noise level from the two pilot lights. So yes, the next step would be to check with the manufacturer to see if your unit has an adjustment screw for the pilot light. Also, when you talk with the manufacturer you can confirm with them that it is a problem with the pilot adjustment, and not something else (like the pilot itself or how its positioned).

Home-Wizard.com

QUESTION FROM Cheryl Bender

My gas fireplace makes a small "poof" noise every so often when it's on. Almost like it is getting a little extra puff of gas in one spot. We recently bought the house and know that the fireplace was serviced just before we bought it because it was not working at all when we looked at the house to purchase. Can you give me any ideas why this is happening so I have some heads up before I call a repair man? Also, how safe/unsafe it is to use my unit?
I'm not sure if this is related but my gas oven also burns hotter at the back of the oven than in the front. I want to have someone come to look at that as well.

ANSWER FROM POLICY-Wizard™

Dear Cheryl:

Is your gas fireplace operating on propane or natural gas? If you are running on propane and your gas fireplace makes only a small "poof" every once in a while, then this is probably due to slight irregularities in your gas supply, and should not be a problem. However, if you are referring to it making the "poof" sound when it FIRST comes on, then this could be caused by something like a small ember blocking your pilot light, causing a delayed ignition problem. To correct this, the pilot light area just needs to be cleaned out.

Regarding your second question, "hot spots" in a gas oven are very typical. If you don't have them already, you might want to consider putting two oven thermometers in your oven, one in the front and one in the back, to help you "get to know" your new gas oven.

Hope this is helpful.
Home-Wizard.com

FOLLOW-UP FROM Cheryl Bender

Thank you for your quick response. I am using natural gas for both the fireplace and the oven. The poofing from the fireplace comes after it's been on for a while and continues the entire time it's on. Is that also due to irregularities in the gas supply or would that be something else? If it is the gas supply, do I call a repair man or the gas company? Something else I noticed is that the glass is very very dirty even though it was cleaned less than 6 months ago and has only been used 5 or 6 times since then. We have had the pilot light on the entire time. My last fireplace did not get this dirty even after daily use. Any relation to my poofing problem?

ANSWER FROM POLICY-Wizard™

Dear Cheryl:

Given that you are running natural gas and seeing soot forming on your glass, I would say that your sooting and "poofing" are likely both caused by your gas fireplace being out of adjustment (or having some blockages) which is causing the fuel-air mixture of your gas fireplace to be incorrect. Soot is produced when incomplete combustion occurs. The flame does not burn efficiently, and carbon particles (soot) are produced. A good indicator of this is if the flames in your fireplace are more yellow than blue.

Regarding who to help you with inspecting and adjusting your gas fireplace, I would suggest that you contact the manufacturer of your fireplace, and ask them for a list of trained technicians in your area. Many manufactures will have this information available on their websites.

To be on the very safe side, I would not recommend running your gas fireplace until it is properly adjusted.

Hope this is helpful.
Home-Wizard.com

FOLLOW-UP FROM Cheryl Bender

You are super-duper!!! Thank you so much for helping me out. I definitely appreciate it.

QUESTION FROM Taylor F.

Hello,
A few months ago we had new a new ventless gas log system installed in our existing fireplace (the brand is Monessen). We have really enjoyed it. We have been using it for about three months now. Recently, we noticed that the hearth makes a few loud clicking noises about a minute after shutoff. Some noises are louder than others and some can make you jump...say...if you are reading a book at the time! Does this sound like NORMAL expansion/contraction of the steel, or, should I get someone to come and look at it for some sort of repair. The gas logs never made any noises until recently...the last two weeks. Thanks so much for any help with this! We're puzzled...

ANSWER FROM POLICY-Wizard™

Dear Taylor F:

Yes, a gas log system that makes a clicking or ticking sound when the burner is lit or turned off is typically caused by the metal shell around the gas logs contracting as it cools down. If the noise is excessive, then you will want to contact a qualified service technician.

However, I'm wondering if clicking sound that you are hearing could be the ignitor relighting the pilot, which somehow is getting blown out when your unit shuts off? This could indicate a problem that you would definitely want a qualified service technician to inspect and correct.

If the sound you are hearing was just normal cooling/contraction noises, I would have expected that you would have been hearing it from the beginning.

Hope this is helpful.
Home-Wizard.com

QUESTION FROM Patricia

We have a regency gas fireplace with a wall thermostat. It has a poof when it turns off. We wonder if it is getting too much air or not enough air? We had a service man install a new blower a few months ago and he adjusted the air flow and we have had the problem since then. I keep trying to readjust the air and can't seem to get it right. Do I need more air or less air?

ANSWER FROM POLICY-Wizard™

Dear Patricia:

Is your gas fireplace operating on propane or natural gas? If you are running on propane and your gas fireplace makes only a small "poof" every once in a while, then this is probably due to slight irregularities in your gas supply, and should not be a problem.

However, if you are referring to it making the "poof" sound when it FIRST comes on, then this could be caused by something like a small ember blocking your pilot light, causing a delayed ignition problem. To correct this, the pilot light area just needs to be cleaned out.

As always, we recommend any work on a gas fireplace should be done by a trained service person who can physically inspect your unit and who has been trained to work on your particular model of gas fireplace.

Hope this is helpful.
Home-Wizard.com

FOLLOW-UP FROM Patricia

The fireplace operates on natural gas and the poof is when it turns off. I think it's in the air adjustment, but I don't know if it needs more air or less air. The service person we had readjusted the air flow and it's been poofing ever since.

ANSWER FROM POLICY-Wizard™

Dear Patricia:

That is odd that you get the poof when you turn your gas fireplace off. And depending on how the service tech adjusted the air flow, they may have adjusted the damper position in the flue stack, so adjusting the flow may require more than just changing the positions of the knobs from the front of your unit (depending on your particular model).

If it would help you, here are a couple of things:

1) a link for finding a local Regency gas fireplace dealer near you, who will be familiar with your particular model of fireplace: http://www.regency-fire.com/Dealer_Locator/index.php

2) a link to the Regency customer service webpage, if you want to contact them: http://www.regency-fire.com/Contact/

3) a link to where you can download the operating manual for your particular Regency gas fireplace: http://www.regency-fire.com/TechDocuments/Manuals/

Hope this is helpful.
Home-Wizard.com

QUESTION FROM Jake

my propane fire place poofs like mentioned in a question before, it sounds like irregularities in the pressure ore gas line. But it isn't once in a while its all the time, like every 5-10 seconds. Could this be a regulator problem? OR WHAT ELSE? its reaslly annoying.

ANSWER FROM POLICY-Wizard™

Jake:

Something is not correct with your fireplace. It could be a number of different causes, and to diagnose the problem it requires a physical inspection and testing of your system.

I would suggest that you contact the manufacturer of your particular brand of gas fireplace, and get from them a list of local qualified trained service technicians, and have one (or more) of them come out and do a complete inspection and adjustment on your fireplace.

For safety reasons, I would also suggest that in the meantime that you shut off your gas fireplace and not use it until it has been completely inspected.

Hope this is helpful.
Home-Wizard.com

QUESTION FROM Terry

My propane fireplace comes on with a loud bang when the gas ignites. I've had it serviced twice for the same problem but to date it still exists. Any ideas as to what might be causing this problem. I'm afraid it is going to blow the glass out one of these times.

ANSWER FROM POLICY-Wizard™

Terry:

We STRONGLY recommend that you not use your gas fireplace until a qualified service technician has done a full inspection and made the appropriate repairs or adjustments to your unit. It should not be making a bang when you ignite it. There are several things which could potentially be causing this, but without doing a physical inspection of the unit, its not possible to say exactly what it is. It sounds like you have had someone look at your unit before. They may be very qualified, but I would suggest that you contact the manufacturer of your unit, and ask if they can provide a list of qualified technicians in your area, for your particular gas fireplace.

And again, we suggest not using your unit until the ignition problem is resolved.

Sincerely,
Home-Wizard.com

QUESTION FROM Jeff

We have a new vent-free gas log set. The pilot light is loud and the gas makes a loud sound when the logs are lit. The gas sound is even louder when you turn the flame down. What could be causing the loud gas sound?

ANSWER FROM POLICY-Wizard™

Dear Jeff:

I would suggest that you have a trained professional come out, who can physically inspect your gas log fireplace. From what you've described, the problem could be that the flow to your pilot light may need to be adjusted downward, and that the sizing of the lines to your fireplace may not be correct. But again, you really need to have someone who can come out and physically hear and inspect your fireplace.

Hope this is helpful.
Home-Wizard.com