gas fireplace

[lz07rp]

Hello I'm new to the site and hope someone can help me out. I have a superior 500 gas fireplace and its 4 years old. It has had no maintenence on it other then cleaning the glass front. Over the weekend it started to have a gas odor when we turned it on. we keep the pilot light on all the time. If it is dirty will it give off a smell? Also are the lava rock used on the bottom for anything else other than decoration? I never really gave this fireplace much thought on how it works and what parts do what but now that it has a problem I'm at a lose with it all right now. Any help would be great. Thanks

[JCA1]

You may be experiencing a delayed lighting problem which happens with long "no maintainance" durations. Do you get a bump when it lights?

Either way you really need to call a certified technician to check this out for you, cause gas smell can be a very bad thing. For safety reasons I'd suggest you shut the unit down and not use it anymore until it is serviced and then have it serviced every other year at a minnimum.

[lz07rp]

no bump when I start it up. I took the burner tube out and cleaned it up removed all the rocks and now it seems to be ok. I still have a few ques about it. Are you familier with the one I have? well my next ques is there is a screen that is in the shape of a triange that is in front of the burner tube. On the one leg of the triangle closest to the outside there is insolation type material. I don't know what that would be good for or if it's needed. I know this ques. is hard to follow I can't come up with a better way to decribe it.

[JCA1]

it's rock wool/glowing ember material thats simulates hot ashes most likely,(look like a chared gray/brownish material) it's used as a decorative feature but also assists in direct lighting of spaced out burner ports on some models, esp. propane versions.

[lz07rp]

Thats what I needed to know. This will sound like a real dumb ques but are the logs ok to come in contact with the fire? I can't remember when I took every thing apart how they were, now the glass is all sooted up. Thanks for your help.

[JCA1]

NO it is not OK, they are designed to fit a certain way. If not corrected you will have major soot problems extending much further than just the glass. With that I defer back to my original reply. A tech familiar with your unit, can adjust the burner if needed, clean and inspect the unit, replace the logs correctly, replace the embers, check pressures, etc. Not knocking you, but it's best this way.

[lz07rp]

Took it back apart today and found all the tabs that the logs line up on. I should of known that they went a certain way. You can knock me I'm knocking myself over this. I cleaned all the soot out of it wiping it down. I'll see what hapens this time and if it starts messing up again I'll call a tech. Thanks for your help I'll post back and let you know.