My gas fireplace pilot is lit but the main burner won't come on — what's wrong?
In Asheville a lit pilot with a dead main burner is almost always a worn-out thermopile — the pilot-heated sensor that makes the low voltage your main gas valve needs to open. Since we're headquartered right here at 629 Emma Rd, a tech can usually read that voltage and swap the part in a single visit.
Old Montford masonry versus new South Asheville boxes
Asheville splits into two fireplace worlds, and each fails a little differently. In Montford, North Asheville, and the older West Asheville streets, most units are gas log sets dropped into original masonry openings, and their thermopiles are often a decade or more old and simply spent. In newer South Asheville and Biltmore Village construction, the clean-face direct-vent units are younger, so a dead burner there points more often to a control fault than an exhausted sensor. Either way it is a millivolt problem: the pilot proves fine, but there is no longer enough voltage to pull the main valve open.
You are on the gas main, so it is not the fuel
Asheville sits squarely on the natural-gas mains, so supply is rarely your issue — the gas is there, the valve just is not opening. Running or repairing that valve is licensed gas work in North Carolina; a furniture showroom or a handyman legally cannot touch it, and we will not hand you DIY steps for it. We stock thermopiles, switches, and remote receivers for Napoleon, Heat & Glo, Regency, Valor, and the other brands we service, so most of these calls close in one trip. We quote the fix before we start.
When the sensor is not the story
A smaller share of Asheville calls come down to a burner clogged after the off-season — our chilly springs, with nighttime lows in the 20s well into April, keep these fireplaces running long enough that spiders and dust settle in the ports. A blocked port stops gas from carrying cleanly from pilot to burner even with a healthy thermopile. Occasionally the valve has failed internally instead. All three are diagnosable in one visit to your Kenilworth, Montford, or West Asheville home. Call (828) 545-0525.
Fireplace help in Asheville
We install and service fireplaces throughout Asheville and the rest of Buncombe County — we're headquartered right here.