Home › Services › Pilot Light Repair
Pilot Light Repair for Gas Fireplaces in Seattle, WA
Pilot won't light, won't stay lit, or drops out when the burner comes on? Our qualified technician finds the cause and fixes it. Free quote, same-day often.
- Free 2nd-opinion quotes
- Price match + 10–25% discount
- Same-day service often available
Request a Free Pilot Light Repair Quote
Tell us what's going on — we'll confirm a time by phone or text.
The pilot is the small standing flame that lives inside the pilot assembly at the back of a gas fireplace. Its only job is to light the main burner and to prove to the gas valve, through a thermocouple or thermopile, that there is a flame to light it with. When the pilot will not light, lights and dies the moment the knob is released, or goes out when the burner kicks in, the fireplace is down. This page is about that one component and its small circle of parts: the pilot orifice, the pilot hood, the thermocouple or thermopile, and the wiring back to the valve.
It is narrower than our gas fireplace repair page, which covers the whole unit from switches to glass, and it sits alongside gas valve repair, where the pilot is fine but the valve itself has failed. If your pilot works and the main burner is the problem, start with gas burner replacement.
We do not publish relight instructions. Our qualified technician relights, tests and repairs the pilot; you do not need to touch the valve. We serve Seattle, Tacoma, Everett and King, Pierce and Snohomish counties from our Renton office. The quote is free. Call 206-453-2045.
Symptoms
Signs you need pilot light repair
- Pilot will not light at all, even with the igniter clicking
- Pilot lights but goes out as soon as the control knob is released
- Pilot holds for a few minutes, then drops out on its own
- Pilot goes out the moment the main burner tries to come on
- Pilot flame is small, yellow, or flickering instead of a steady blue cone
- Pilot stays lit but the fireplace will not respond to the switch or remote
- A faint whoosh or delayed ignition when the burner finally lights
- The pilot has been out since spring and you would rather not touch it
Common causes
- A weak or failed thermocouple or thermopile that no longer tells the valve a flame is present
- A pilot orifice partly blocked by dust, spider webs or corrosion, starving the flame
- A thermocouple sitting out of the flame after the pilot hood shifted or the assembly was bumped
- Loose or corroded connections at the valve, wall switch or receiver that break the millivolt circuit
- Downdraft or a disconnected vent blowing the pilot out, which on a sealed unit also means a gasket or vent problem
- Low gas supply pressure or a partly closed shutoff that is a job for the utility or a qualified gas fitter
How It Works
Our pilot light repair process
Our technician opens the control compartment, confirms the gas supply, and tries the pilot. From there it is measurement, not guessing: the thermocouple or thermopile is read with a meter at the valve, first with the pilot alone and then under load with the burner calling, because a sensor that passes the first test and fails the second is the most common pilot-drops-out fault. The pilot flame itself is checked for size, color and whether it wraps the sensor tip. The orifice and hood are inspected for blockage, and the wiring, wall switch and receiver are tested for resistance. You get a clear explanation and a written free quote before any part is replaced.
Free pilot diagnosis
Our qualified technician tests the pilot, thermocouple or thermopile, and circuit, and tells you which part is at fault and what it costs.
Clean the pilot assembly
The orifice, hood and sensor tip are cleaned of dust, webs and oxide. A dirty pilot is fixed at this step more often than people expect.
Replace the worn sensor
A thermocouple or thermopile that reads out of range is replaced with the correct part and seated so the flame wraps it properly.
Check the circuit and valve
Connections at the valve, switch and receiver are tightened or replaced; if the valve itself is the fault, we quote it as a separate repair.
Relight, load test and walkthrough
We light the pilot, run the burner through several cycles, confirm the pilot holds under load, check our connections for leaks and show you the controls.
Options
Repair and service options
Pilot repairs are small jobs priced by the part, and our technician tells you which one applies before starting:
- Pilot cleaning and relight: the assembly is cleaned, the flame sized, and the pilot relit and tested. Often the whole fix for a pilot that has been out since last season.
- Thermocouple replacement: for standing-pilot units where the sensor simply holds the valve open. A quick, inexpensive part when the pilot dies on knob release.
- Thermopile replacement: for millivolt units with a wall switch or remote, where the sensor also powers the valve. The usual fix when the pilot holds alone but drops when the burner calls.
- Pilot assembly replacement: when the orifice, hood or bracket is corroded past cleaning, the whole assembly is swapped for a matched part.
- Electronic ignition service: on intermittent-pilot units with no standing flame, the spark electrode, flame sensor and module are tested and the failed piece replaced.
We price match any written quote plus 10-25% off, give free second-opinion quotes, and if you are not happy, we are not done.
Pricing
What affects the price
- Standing pilot with a thermocouple versus millivolt thermopile versus electronic intermittent pilot
- Whether cleaning resolves it or a sensor or full pilot assembly must be replaced
- Make and model of the fireplace and whether the part is on the truck or must be ordered
- Condition of the wiring, switch and receiver on the same circuit
- Whether the valve turns out to be the real fault, which is quoted separately
- Access to the control compartment on inserts and built-in units
- Distance from Renton for outlying Pierce and Snohomish addresses
Every chimney is different, so you get a written quote after we look at the system. Ask about our price match and free second-opinion quote.
Safety & Seattle Conditions
Safety considerations
If you smell gas, do not try to light the pilot and do not operate the fireplace or any switch. Leave the house and call your gas utility or 911 from outside. A pilot that keeps going out can leave a small amount of unburned gas in the firebox, which is the reason we do not publish relight steps. Our qualified technician relights and tests the pilot; you do not need to open the valve.
A pilot that drops out is almost always a safety sensor doing what it is designed to do. Leave it off, do not keep retrying the igniter, and have the cause found. NFPA 211 recommends an annual inspection of fireplaces, chimneys and vents, and an annual gas fireplace cleaning is when a weakening pilot sensor is usually caught before it fails.
Seattle & Puget Sound conditions
Pilot calls cluster in the fall. Many Puget Sound homeowners shut the pilot off in spring and try it again in October, the month Sea-Tac's NOAA 1991-2020 normals show rainfall jumping to 3.91 inches from 1.61 in September. A pilot that sat idle through a damp summer has had months for the orifice to collect dust and the sensor connections to oxidize, so a good share of fall no-light calls are a cleaning and a relight.
The housing mix matters too. Renton's median home dates to 1988, Bothell's to 1992 and Gig Harbor's to 1998, and factory-built gas fireplaces are common in homes from that era, so many pilots in those neighborhoods are on their original thermocouple or thermopile and are reaching the age where the part wears out.
Our Work
Pilot Light Repair in action
Pilot won't stay lit? Get a free diagnosis.
Qualified technician, free quote, same-day often available, price match plus 10-25% off. Call 206-453-2045. If you smell gas, leave the house and call your gas utility or 911 first.
☎ 206-453-2045 Request a QuoteQuestions
Pilot Light Repair FAQ
Why does my pilot light go out when I let go of the knob?
The knob is held in to bypass the safety sensor while the pilot warms it. If the pilot dies the instant you release it, the thermocouple is not producing enough signal to hold the valve open, either because it is worn, because the pilot flame is too small to heat it, or because the tip has shifted out of the flame. Our technician meters the sensor and either cleans and repositions the pilot or replaces the part.
The pilot stays lit but goes out when the burner comes on. Why?
That pattern points to a thermopile on a millivolt unit. The thermopile has to power the valve under the extra demand of the main burner, and a tired one passes the pilot-only test but collapses under load. It can also be a loose connection at the valve or a partly blocked pilot. We test the sensor under load, which is the only test that catches it.
Can I relight the pilot myself?
We do not give relight instructions, and we ask you not to work the valve on a pilot that has been going out. A pilot that will not hold can leave unburned gas in the firebox, and repeated attempts make that worse. If you smell gas at any point, leave the house and call your gas utility or 911. Otherwise, call us; our qualified technician relights, tests and repairs the pilot, and the quote is free.
What is the difference between a thermocouple and a thermopile?
Both sit in the pilot flame and make a small electrical signal from heat. A thermocouple makes just enough to hold the safety valve open on a match-lit or knob-lit fireplace. A thermopile makes more, enough to also run the main valve from a wall switch or remote without household power. Our technician identifies which your unit uses and tests it the right way.
Is a pilot repair expensive?
Usually it is one of the less expensive gas fireplace repairs. A cleaning and relight, or a thermocouple or thermopile swap, is a single visit when the part is on the truck. The cost rises if the whole pilot assembly is corroded or if the valve turns out to be the fault, and we quote that separately so you can decide. Quotes are free and in writing, and we price match plus 10-25% off.
Should I leave the pilot on all summer?
Either choice is fine. Leaving it on uses a little gas but keeps the assembly warm and dry, which in a damp Puget Sound crawlspace-side firebox can mean fewer fall relight problems. Turning it off saves gas; our technician can shut it down at the end of a service and relight it in the fall. What we do not recommend is repeatedly cycling a pilot that is already unreliable.
Does an electronic ignition fireplace have a pilot?
Many do, but it only lights when the fireplace is called on and goes out with the burner. These intermittent-pilot systems have a spark electrode, a flame sensor and a control module instead of a standing flame and thermocouple. The failures are different, often a dirty sensor or a module, and our technician tests them with the same meter-first approach.
How fast can you come out?
Same-day service is often available across King, Pierce and Snohomish counties, and most pilot repairs are finished in one visit when the sensor or assembly is on the truck. Model-specific parts may need a day or two to arrive. If you are not happy with the repair, we are not done, and we come back at no charge.
Related services
Topic
Service areas