Is it the Thermocouple?


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Old 01-17-18, 08:25 AM
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Is it the Thermocouple?

I have gas logs (propane) in my fireplace. New bottles of propane delivered recently. It was working just fine and had been for two evenings. Last night, it was working fine, but then just went out. Not gradually as when running out of propane. It is very cold for our area (about 12 degrees when this happened.) Both the pilot and the flame all went out at the same time. Is it likely that the thermocouple failed? If so, is it a simple replacement? If not, what else might be the problem.
 
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Old 01-17-18, 04:59 PM
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How big is the propane tank? What is the BTU rating of the fireplace? If it is a smaller tank then most likely it is simply a matter of the liquid propane can not "boil off" fast enough to supply the needs of the fireplace. The solution is a larger tank.

It could also be a small amount of water in the piping between the tank and the fireplace that froze and blocked the passage of the propane.
 
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Old 01-17-18, 06:59 PM
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If it was the thermocouple..... you would be able to hold the gas valve in.... in the pilot position... and light the pilot. After holding the valve in for 30 seconds and releasing it.... if the pilot stays lit.... the thermocouple is ok. If the pilot goes out..... relight it and hold the valve in for 60 seconds. See if it stays lit now.

If the pilot won't light..... hold the valve in and keep trying the spark ignition every 30 seconds. It could take several minutes to purge the pilot line of air. There won't be enough gas released to cause a problem by holding the valve down for that long.
 
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Old 01-18-18, 06:15 AM
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More information. I tried to relight the pilot and it worked fine. The fire came on and stayed on for about 2 hours. Then it suddenly went out again. After about 15 minutes, I tried to relight again. Successful and the fire stayed on for about 3 hours before being turned off for the evening.

I let the last bottles of propane go too long and actually ran out. The fire just slowly died when I did this. After both bottles were replaced, it took some time before the pilot would light. Eventually it did and stayed lit. Is it possible there were pockets of air trapped in between sections of propane in the line and these just eventually make their way to the fireplace and cause it to go out?

If so, won't the line eventually be purged of air?
 
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Old 01-18-18, 04:43 PM
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It could have been trapped air. Yes... eventually the line would be purged.
 
 

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