Natural Gas fireplace - pilot weirdness.

Soldato
Joined
9 Nov 2003
Posts
9,515
Location
The Motor City
This may apply to more than just a fireplace, with all the folks on here that have NG stoves and the like, perhaps you've run across this.

For 10 years I've lived in this home and the pilot on the fireplace has always maintained a nice blue flame just barely visible above the grate. But in the last few weeks it has taken on a brighter orange colour and grown larger, which to me means it isn't burning the gas as efficiently as possible. It is now easily visible from all directions. Sometimes when using aerosol dust sprays for cleaning I will see it do that briefly, but now it seems continuous.

The flame blows across a standard thermo coupler wick, which should help maintain the heat to keep the flame from going out accidentally, and also serves to tell the solenoid if the flame does go out to shut off the gas. Otherwise there is no interaction between the flame and any surrounding material that may be dusty or other craziness.

Any ideas? And is this dangerous? I have carbon-monoxide sensors around and they are being quiet. Should I contact the local FD? Or is it an easy solution?
 
It's probably just needing a good blow out with compressed air. When the dirt builds up it blocks the little air holes on the nozzle, hence the yellow flame. (Think back to the bunsen burners at school ;) )
 
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