Gas Fireplace Pilot Light Repair in Lakeland, FL

Why Florida pilot lights die and what we find inside

Nine months idle is the real cause. Your burner sleeps from March to Thanksgiving. Mud daubers build in warm orifices. We pull more packed clay than failed parts. The pilot tube is the usual nest site. Screened lanais do not keep them out.

Salt air adds a second pattern near the coast. Thermocouple tips go chalky white. The copper lead corrodes where it threads into the valve. A clean tip and a rotten connection read the same from the couch.

We test, not guess. Open-circuit millivolts first. Then under load with the switch closed. A thermopile strong cold and weak loaded is done. We also ohm the wall switch and the long run behind the drywall. Lizards get into switch boxes here.

Look up at the chase cover before blaming the valve. Sheet-metal covers on prefab chases pond water and rust at the seams. Summer afternoon storms dump straight down onto them. That water drips onto the burner pan. You will see rust streaks on the inner firebox walls.

Ventless log sets use an ODS pilot. It is a sealed unit. Nobody bends, files or cleans those. If yours is obsolete and the firebox is rusted thin, we say replace, not repair.