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I have a Napoleon natural gas fireplace, model, B36 NTRE, installed in 2019. It uses a power vent and has electric ignition (no standing pilot).
Over the last several months, I've been having the following issues:
The pilot will light for a moment then immediately turn off, or after a few moments.
The pilot will not light for several minutes (up to 20), then all of a sudden the pilot and main burner will start. This has happened a few times when I turned the unit on and then forgot about it.
Once the main burner has started, the circulating fan won't come on, ever.
I've tried cleaning out the pilot assembly a few times with sandpaper, wire brush, scour pad, and vaccuum, to no avail. I've tried turning off the power for several hours.
Some pictures:
Close up of pilot assembly. The fireplace with glass and screen removed.I purchased a Napoleon vector from an online seller (embers living) as part of my remodel in 2022. My GC and I installed, including new iron pipe in the crawl space. The city inspected during rough in, and we tested prior to tiling the vector into the framing. It is on natural gas, as was the prior gas insert that was there when I bought the home.
Life got in the way and I never got a “final” inspection for two years. Additionally, I never installed the media since I wanted to do a full burn in first. Finally got my final from the city last week, and the fireplace lit and functioned perfectly at that time.
Last weekend I started the burn in. This was the first time it got fully hot and burned for a longer duration. 20 minutes in (right after the below picture!) the fireplace burner shut down and since that time its been completely non-responsive (as if it’s in igniter lock-out). A power cycle of the breaker and new batteries in the wall switch have not changed anything. The LEDs and overhead light functions work fine. I removed the glass and lightly cleaned the pilot and thermopile/coupler (not surprisingly, no change, as they were new).
Any idea if there is a common failure on these units? The fact that I no longer get even a spark, and additionally since it went dead while fully lit, would tell me something is wrong with the electronic pilot assembly (W010-2763). And at ~$70 for the part I am tempted to replace this first before moving to the valve and control board (at which point I’d be inclined to call a tech). For troubleshooting, have a multi-meter but not a manometer.
Thank you!
I ordered a new ICM and that fixed the problem. In checking the voltages at the valve TH to ground is now 1.92v. Also, the red and green LEDs on the battery relay are now brightly illuminated. With the defective ICM they were very dim. Thanks for all your input. Hopefully this will help others in the future.
In millivolt systems which use a mercury switch the problem is that the switch was designed as 125- 50 VA operation not at 480 mv. The switch contacts need to be cleaned up! Remove the switch from the fireplace. Make a jig with a 20 watt bulb and a 110 volt source and have the bulb turned ON and OFF with a flame source (BBQ or torch). With a voltmeter you will find that the contact resistance is now below 1 ohm when it was some 60 ohms in my system before the aboe "cleaning".
Edit: This solution will work in millivolt system (450 mV-open,~220 mV closed). the current in this case is about 0.450 ma. The switch contacts get contaminated under this regiment. Using a jig to have the switch operate under. 125 volts 40 va range will clean the contacts. This is not the wall switch, it is located inside the fire place and its role is to sense if the pilot is lit. For safety remove ths switch from the fireplace when working with 125 volts.