My gas fireplace pilot is lit but the main burner won't come on — what's wrong?
Out in Leicester's rural valleys, where many homes run propane and some have limited electrical capacity, gas fireplaces are often simple millivolt systems that need no house power at all. On those a lit pilot with a dead burner points straight at the thermopile — or at an LP fuel-delivery problem starving the burner while the pilot holds.
Millivolt systems, and why they narrow things
Because parts of Leicester — Sandy Mush, Turkey Creek — sit on large rural lots with limited electrical service, a lot of these fireplaces are self-powering millivolt units with no circuit board and no wall outlet. The pilot heats a thermopile that makes the few hundred millivolts, and that voltage alone opens and holds the main burner. That's a rugged design, great for grid-independent heat, but it puts all the weight on one wear part. When the pilot proves and the burner won't fire, the aged thermopile has almost always slipped below the voltage the valve needs. A meter tells us instantly.
Propane adds a fuel check
Many Leicester homes burn propane, and a pilot needs so little gas that a low tank or a weak regulator can keep it lit while starving the main burner. We check the LP side with your supplier and confirm the orifices are set for propane. Cold-air drainage runs these valleys 5 to 8 degrees colder than Asheville on clear nights, so you want dependable heat before the hard cold arrives. For the more remote Newfound Road and Sandy Mush properties, that no-power millivolt design is a real advantage in an outage, which is one reason we'd rather rebuild the sensor circuit than talk you into a unit that leans on the grid.
Fifteen minutes west, licensed LP work
Connecting and repairing propane systems is licensed gas work in North Carolina — not a DIY job, not a handyman's. If the repair reaches the gas line we pull the Buncombe County permit and meet the inspector. We're 15 minutes west with parts on the truck. Call (828) 545-0525.
Fireplace help in Leicester
We install and service fireplaces throughout Leicester and the rest of Buncombe County — just 15 minutes west from our Asheville-area showroom.