Will my fireplace remote or wall thermostat still work during a power outage?

Millivolt controls: powered by the flame itself

On a standing-pilot (millivolt) fireplace, the pilot generates the small voltage that runs both the valve and a simple two-wire wall thermostat — no house power involved. That's a quiet superpower during an outage: you can still set a temperature and let the fireplace cycle to hold it while the rest of the neighborhood is dark. It's one more reason millivolt units like the Valor line are the grid-down favorites up in propane country and out on exposed ridges.

Battery remotes usually survive; smart controls don't

Most gas fireplaces sold today use a remote with a battery-powered receiver mounted in the unit. If both the handset and the receiver run on their own batteries, they generally keep working through an outage — worth checking those batteries in the fall along with the ignition pack.

Where people get caught is the smart stuff: IntelliFire app control, WiFi modules, and smart thermostats all lean on your router and household power. When the grid drops, so does your WiFi, and the app goes useless — the physical on/off switch or the battery remote becomes your fallback.

Know your fallback before the storm

The takeaway for a mountain home: don't let an outage be the first time you learn how your fireplace behaves without power. If yours is app- or thermostat-controlled, make sure there's a manual switch or battery remote you can fall back on, and test it. After Helene, that's one of the most common regrets we heard — a beautiful fireplace nobody could turn on because it only answered to an app.

If you're shopping specifically for backup heat, tell us — we'll steer you toward a millivolt or battery-backup setup with controls that don't quit when the power does. Call (828) 545-0525.