What is the IntelliFire ignition system and which fireplace brands use it?
IntelliFire is Hearth & Home Technologies' electronic ignition system — an intermittent pilot that lights the fireplace on demand instead of burning a standing pilot 24/7, which saves gas. It's used across their brands: Heat & Glo, Heatilator, Majestic, and Quadra-Fire. Most versions take a battery backup, so the fireplace can still light during a power outage.
How IntelliFire works
Older gas fireplaces keep a small pilot flame lit all the time — reliable, but it burns fuel around the clock and adds summer heat you don't want. IntelliFire is an intermittent pilot (IPI) system: press the remote or wall switch and a spark lights the pilot, which lights the burner, then everything shuts off cleanly when you're done. That trims gas use over a season and removes the always-on flame.
IntelliFire Plus adds features and diagnostics; IntelliFire Touch brings a touchscreen and smartphone app control — the version on the Majestic Meridian 42 we carry.
Which brands run it
IntelliFire is Hearth & Home Technologies' own system, so you'll find it across their family of hearth brands. From the lines we carry, that's Heat & Glo (the 6000CLX and Cosmo 42 use IntelliFire Plus), Heatilator (the Novus nXt 36), and Majestic (the Meridian 42 with IntelliFire Touch). Quadra-Fire, another Hearth & Home brand we service, uses it too.
Other manufacturers use their own ignition designs — Napoleon, for instance, has its own electronic ignition with battery backup, while Valor stays on a millivolt system that needs no electronics at all (more on that below) — but IntelliFire specifically belongs to the Hearth & Home brands.
The outage angle — and the tradeoff
Here's the part that matters in the mountains: most IntelliFire units take AA battery backup, so when the power drops — and after Helene, plenty of WNC homes lost it for days — you can still light the fireplace by battery and keep heat in the room. That's a real advantage over any electric fireplace, which is simply dead without power.
The tradeoff versus a pure millivolt system like Valor's is that IntelliFire relies on that battery or power for ignition, where a millivolt pilot needs nothing at all. Both are good; which is right depends on how outage-proof you want to be. Call (828) 545-0525 and we'll talk it through.
Related questions
- Is Heat & Glo the same company as Heatilator?
- Which fireplace brands does Hearth & Home Technologies own?
- Which gas fireplace brands work without electricity during a power outage?
- Which fireplace brands offer WiFi or smartphone app control?
- Is Heat & Glo a good fireplace brand?
- Is Napoleon a good fireplace brand?
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