The majority of gas fireplaces have a simple manual control to switch on the flame effect, which is shown in the image below. To ignite the fire simply turn one or two of the knobs and the fire will start. Some more elaborate fires have a combined valve and ignition switch combination that is only requires you to turn the knob and press down on the same switch to ignite the fire (similar to a modern gas kitchen hob).

One of the many reasons people purchase gas fireplaces is to ensure they have a back up heating source during the winter in case of a power blackout. This ensures that the home can be heated, and whilst proving for the necessity of heat, also ensures that the water pipes in the property do not burst from the cold. For this reason it is very important that gas fireplaces work without an electricity supply.

Most gas fireplaces will work without an electricity supply

1. The majority of class 1, class 2, and precast flue gas fireplaces are fitted with a battery that creates the ignition spark, and hence do not need an electrical supply to work.

2. Power flue and balanced flue gas fireplace may not work during a power blackout (depending on the model), as the majority (99%) of exterior vented fires require a constant fan (which works on electricity) to vent out the toxic carbon monoxide created from the fire. For this reason it would not be possible to switch on the gas fire without an electrical supply.

3. The majority of flueless gas fireplaces which work on a catholic converter as they often need an electrical supply to recycle carbon monoxide.

4. Remote control gas fireplaces should work as the remote is powered via batteries.

Tags: Gas Fireplaces

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 5th, 2010 at 3:21 pm and is filed under Gas Fireplace. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.