Louisville Gas Fireplace Repair, With Safety First

If You Smell Gas, Do This First

Natural gas and propane are odorized with a sulfur, rotten-egg smell so leaks are noticeable. If you smell it near the fireplace or anywhere in the house, treat it as an emergency, not a repair call.

• Do not light anything, flip light switches, use the fireplace remote or start a car in an attached garage
• Get everyone, including pets, out of the house
• From outside and a safe distance, call your gas utility's emergency line or 911
• Leave the door open behind you if it is on your way out, but do not go back in to open windows
• Once the utility has made the house safe, call us to locate and repair the leak

The normal new-fireplace smell

A new fireplace, or one starting up for the season, often gives off a hot, oily or dusty smell for the first few hours as paint cures and dust burns off. That smell is different from the sharp rotten-egg odor of gas. When in doubt, treat it as gas.

Carbon Monoxide and Your Fireplace

Carbon monoxide has no smell. A properly working direct-vent fireplace sends combustion gases outside, but a blocked vent, a cracked glass seal or a badly adjusted burner can change that. If a CO alarm sounds, get everyone outside and call 911 or the fire department. Symptoms like headache, dizziness or nausea that ease when you leave the house are a warning sign too.

Keep a working CO alarm on every level of the home and near sleeping areas, and test them each fall when you start the fireplace. Vent-free units have an oxygen depletion sensor that shuts them down if room oxygen drops, but that sensor is not a substitute for a CO alarm.

How to Shut Off Gas to the Fireplace

Every gas fireplace should have a shutoff valve close by. It may be behind the lower louver panel, in the wall or floor beside the unit, or in the basement directly below. A lever-handle valve is off when the handle is crossways to the pipe. Some older installations use a key valve in the floor or wall that turns with a special key.

If you cannot find a shutoff, or you discover there is none, that is something we fix. An accessible appliance shutoff is basic to a safe installation.

Warning Signs That Call for a Repair Visit

These are not emergencies by themselves, but stop using the fireplace and schedule service if you see them:

• Flames that are tall, floppy and mostly yellow, or that lick the glass
• Black soot on the logs, glass or the wall above the opening
• A whoosh or puff when the burner lights
• Cracked or loose glass, or a gasket that is pulling away
• Bird nests, leaves or ice packed into the outdoor vent cap

Repairs, Installations and Checkups in Louisville

Beyond safety calls, we handle the everyday work: pilots that will not stay lit, thermocouple and thermopile replacement, valve and igniter repairs and new fireplace or insert installations with a properly sized gas connection. For homes on propane outside town, our Louisville propane line service covers the supply side, and our gas leak and line repair work handles problems in the house piping.

If you would like a broader safety look at the gas and water systems in an older house, ask about our plumbing inspection. The main fireplace service page describes unit types and installation.