How do I Troubleshoot a Comfort Glow LP Heater?

Blow through a straw to clean debris from the Comfort Glow's air inlet hole.

During the operation of your propane heater, you may encounter a few problems. Knowing how to troubleshoot your Comfort Glow LP heater will help you save money on service calls, keeping your area heated and your home energy efficient. Troubleshooting also helps prevent future performance problems.

1. Light your Comfort Glow heater by pressing the ignitor button if you find yourself looking for a way to light the pilot -- do not try to light the ignitor with matches. Locate the piezo ignitor button on the front of the heater base assembly. Piezo ignitors work without electric current; these ignitors only require pressure to get electricity to ignite the liquid propane (LP) fuel.

2. Free the ignitor cable of your heater from kinks or pinches, if you do not see a spark from the Oxygen Depletion Sensing (ODS) pilot when you press the ignitor button. As a safety feature, your Comfort Glow heater has an ODS/pilot which turns your heater off when the room does not have enough fresh air. Your vent-free heater must have fresh air from outdoors to run efficiently.

3. Turn the control knob to the "Pilot" position and press the knob in, while pressing the ignitor button, if you press the ignitor button and see a spark but the pilot does not light.

4. Press in the control knob fully and keep it pressed in for 30 seconds if you see the ODS pilot flame go out when you release the control knob.

5. Clean the pilot assembly if the flame has a yellow tip, which means dirt and dust, or when the flame goes out after the pilot lights. Use an air compressor to blow air into the air inlet hole, a small hole two inches from where you see the pilot flame come out. Blow into the hole through a straw if you do not have an air compressor. After cleaning the pilot assembly, the pilot flame should appear completely blue.

6. Operate your Comfort Glow heater a few more hours if you notice an odor or a little smoke. These odors come from the curing of the logs and residues of your heater during manufacturing and usually stops.

7. Turn the control knob of your heater to the "Lo" position if you hear a whistling noise from your heater after it's lit. Your heater may need to warm up for a minute or so. The whistling could also mean your heater has air in the gas line. Contact your propane gas company and have a qualified technician check the gas line if the whistling continues.

8. Shut off the gas supply, do not light any appliances or touch any electrical switch, leave your home immediately and call the gas company from a neighbor's phone if you smell gas when you have the control knob in the "Off" position. Call the fire department if your gas company cannot be contacted.