This gas fireplace uses a Robertshaw-Grayson 7000 MVRCL 711-701-401 gas valve. This valve does not appear to be made any longer but Robertshaw lists the 710-502 as a replacement - looking at their website:
www.robertshaw.com
it lists 711-701-401 as a replacement under the "competitor cross reference" LOL
The problem I'm having is that flipping the switch does not always turn on the gas. Sometimes you have to flip it on and off several times before you can hear the gas moving. Other times you can flip it and wait for a moment and then you may hear the gas start flowing a few seconds later.
Anyway, we had some friends staying and they called the gas company because they smelled gas - turned out they had turned on one of the range burner knobs (probably bumped into it) I don't think they are used to gas ranges, LOL. Anyway, while the natural gas guy was there (I guess before he checked the obvious place - the range in the kitchen) he checked the fireplace - and when we got back he had red tagged the thing with a note saying "Delayed Ignition flame came out of bottom of fireplace, do not use until corrected"
Now, it's summertime and it's hot, and this isn't the primary heat source in the house anyway so I don't care that it's not working at the moment. But, the problem is that I can't find anyone to come fix it who doesn't want to just fix the thing, they all want to replace the entire fireplace "because it's old" And the new fireplaces are all direct vent - and this one does not appear to be - plus these are freaking expensive ($5k) and I can just see this project turning into an expensive boondoggle with a bunch of amateurs.
My gut feel on this is the gas valve is old and failing - this is out a mile from the ocean and the marine salt air ultimately destroys everything whether it's inside the house or not - I can't understand, though, if the valve DID turn on, why enough gas was able to accumulate in the fireplace to suddenly ignite from the pilot light - unless the gas valve was just very slowly opening and the gas wasn't flowing fast enough to get ignition or something. I don't have enough experience with different gas valves to know. I can buy a replacement valve and plumb it in no problem - I'm sure it would fix the intermittent ignition issue - but would it fix the "sudden ignition" problem?
710-502 - Gas Valves - Robertshaw
it lists 711-701-401 as a replacement under the "competitor cross reference" LOL
The problem I'm having is that flipping the switch does not always turn on the gas. Sometimes you have to flip it on and off several times before you can hear the gas moving. Other times you can flip it and wait for a moment and then you may hear the gas start flowing a few seconds later.
Anyway, we had some friends staying and they called the gas company because they smelled gas - turned out they had turned on one of the range burner knobs (probably bumped into it) I don't think they are used to gas ranges, LOL. Anyway, while the natural gas guy was there (I guess before he checked the obvious place - the range in the kitchen) he checked the fireplace - and when we got back he had red tagged the thing with a note saying "Delayed Ignition flame came out of bottom of fireplace, do not use until corrected"
Now, it's summertime and it's hot, and this isn't the primary heat source in the house anyway so I don't care that it's not working at the moment. But, the problem is that I can't find anyone to come fix it who doesn't want to just fix the thing, they all want to replace the entire fireplace "because it's old" And the new fireplaces are all direct vent - and this one does not appear to be - plus these are freaking expensive ($5k) and I can just see this project turning into an expensive boondoggle with a bunch of amateurs.
My gut feel on this is the gas valve is old and failing - this is out a mile from the ocean and the marine salt air ultimately destroys everything whether it's inside the house or not - I can't understand, though, if the valve DID turn on, why enough gas was able to accumulate in the fireplace to suddenly ignite from the pilot light - unless the gas valve was just very slowly opening and the gas wasn't flowing fast enough to get ignition or something. I don't have enough experience with different gas valves to know. I can buy a replacement valve and plumb it in no problem - I'm sure it would fix the intermittent ignition issue - but would it fix the "sudden ignition" problem?
