Gas Fireplace Cleaning & Repair in Los Angeles

An outdoor fireplace is a simple appliance: a gas valve, a burner pan or tube, a pilot or electronic ignition, and some logs, rocks or glass on top. Most of what goes wrong comes from it being outdoors. Spiders build webs in the pilot tube and burner ports during the off months. Rain and sprinklers soak the media and rust the burner pan. Leaves and ash from Santa Ana winds settle into the firebox. Thermocouples weaken after years of heat cycles and stop holding the gas valve open.

The result is usually a pilot that won't stay lit, a flame that's weak on one side, or a fire that lights and dies a few seconds later. Most of these are cleaning and small-parts fixes.

• The pilot won't light, or goes out when you let go of the knob
• The burner lights and then shuts off after a few seconds
• Tall, lazy yellow flames and black soot on the logs or surround
• One side of the burner barely lights
• A clicking igniter that never catches
• Any smell of gas near the fireplace when it's off

The guide to gas fireplace maintenance covers what you can do yourself between visits.

We service outdoor gas fireplaces and the gas components inside them. We don't sweep chimneys on wood-burning fireplaces, and we don't repair masonry, stucco, tile or cracked fireboxes. Indoor fireplaces and direct-vent inserts are outside our scope. We also don't run new gas lines to a fireplace. For gas fire pits, tables and bowls, see fire pit service; the work is similar.

Near the beach, salt air corrodes the burner pan, pilot hood and fasteners faster than inland, and we often find pilot assemblies that have rusted to the point of needing replacement. In canyon and foothill neighborhoods, the problem is more often debris: leaves, pine needles and ash that blow into an open firebox and settle around the burner. Both are reasons to have an outdoor fireplace looked at every year rather than waiting for it to fail. After a windy stretch, it's worth clearing visible debris yourself before lighting it. Our guide to Santa Ana winds and ash has more on that.