Does a gas fireplace with electronic ignition have a pilot light I need to light myself?
No — with electronic ignition there's no standing pilot for you to light by hand. You flip the switch or press the remote and the system sparks the pilot and burner automatically, every time. Some units light a pilot only on demand, others spark the burner directly, but either way there's no match and no knob-and-hold routine.
Electronic ignition vs. a standing pilot
A standing (millivolt) pilot burns a small flame around the clock, waiting to light the burner. Electronic ignition skips that — it sparks a pilot or the burner on demand, only when you call for fire, then shuts everything down when you're done. That's the tradeoff: electronic saves the gas a standing pilot would sip all season and eliminates the summer relight, but it needs a spark source, which means power or a battery. Napoleon's battery-backup ignition and Heat & Glo's IntelliFire are common examples we install; you flip a switch or press a remote and it does the lighting for you.
The catch when the power's out
This is where the two systems part ways, and it matters in these mountains. A straight electronic-ignition unit with no backup can't spark without electricity, so when the grid drops it stays dark. Battery-backup models get around it: a couple of batteries in the ignition module keep it lighting through an outage — exactly the kind of power-optional heat people wished they'd had after Helene. An old-school millivolt standing pilot, by contrast, needs no electricity at all to run. If outage heat is your priority, tell us — it steers the whole recommendation.
When it won't spark
Check the batteries first — both the handheld remote and the receiver behind the lower panel. A surprising share of it-won't-light calls are just dead cells. Beyond that, don't dig into the valve or ignition module; that's licensed gas work, and it's ours. IPI systems still use a flame-sensing pilot to prove ignition, so a dirty sensor can stop them cold just like a standing pilot. Give us a call at (828) 545-0525 and we'll sort out whether it's a battery, a module, or a pilot that needs service.
Related questions
- How do I light the pilot light on my gas fireplace?
- How do I start a gas fireplace with electronic ignition during a power outage?
- What does the CPI/IPI switch on my fireplace remote do, and which setting should I use in winter?
- Will my gas fireplace work when the power is out?
- Should I leave my gas fireplace pilot light on all summer or turn it off?
- How long do I hold the pilot knob down when lighting it, and why won't it stay lit if I let go too soon?
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