When your gas fireplace shuts off and the pilot goes out, usually it means that the thermocouple is bad or on the toy of being bad.
What are Thermocouple and Pilot Light?
The thermocouple is a component of a gas furnace. This component usually is located not far from the pilot light burner. The thermocouple acts as a safety measure. Its function is to make sure there are no gas leaks if the electric igniter fails or if the pilot light shuts off.
While pilot light is a small flame that you can find inside a device, this light is always lit. Usually, you can find this light on older models of propane appliances. If you buy a newer appliance, you might not see the pilot light. Instead, you will see electronic ignitions.
Sometimes a pilot light goes out, so you do not need to worry when your gas fireplace shuts off and the pilot goes out. When the pilot light goes out, usually the cause is something you can solve easily. You can try to turn off the gas or maybe, your appliance runs out of propane.
Turn On a Gas Fireplace With a Key
So, you might wonder how to turn on the gas fireplace with a key? Usually, gas fireplaces use an ignitor or a knob to start the fire. But some older models use a metal key instead. Basically, all you need to do is insert that key into the right keyhole. It will turn on the glass flow, and the fire will start.
Locating the keyhole might not be the easiest thing to do. Usually, it is located on the base of a fireplace, to be exact, on the floor right in front of your fireplace. If you do not find it there, you might want to look for it on the lower part of a wall close to the fireplace.
You need to grasp the key’s handle and insert the square end into the keyhole. To make sure the key is in the right position, you can jingle it a little until the lock slid into its place in the keyhole. After that, you should turn the key a half turn. You need to remember to turn it counterclockwise. This action will start the gas flow into the fireplace logs.
Gas Fireplace Shuts Off, and Pilot Goes Out
After that, you need to insert the butane lighter into the gas tube. The butane lighter is located near the center of the gas logs. To start the flame, you need to press the trigger that is on the lighter.
Once you are done with that, you need to put the key back into the keyhole if you want to adjust the flame’s height. Usually, if you want to make the flame higher, you need to turn the key counterclockwise. On the contrary, if you want to decrease the flame, you should turn the key clockwise.
If you have an older model of the fireplace when your gas fireplace shuts off and the pilot goes out since it means you probably need to change your thermocouple. You can ask a professional to do this.
