# Mendota FV 44 I Gas Fireplace will not fire



## Clemson Tiger (Jan 1, 2018)

I have a 2012 model Mendota natural gas fireplace. It is installed correctly with all of the proper permits and has performed flawlessly until today, Jan 1, 2018(Happy New Year!).

It has the SIT Proflame II remote transmitter along with SIT flame control, pilot and gas valve.

The first indication of trouble was failure to fire in response to the remote being set to call for fire. Intermittently the gas valve would allow  gas to come in and the main flame would last 15 seconds or so and then go out. During all of this the pilot stays on and looks good.

Batteries in the remote are OK. All of the other gas appliances work OK. Power to the unit is OK.

The only thing that may be out of ordinary is the "synchronizing receiver and transmitter" procedure. In Step 2 the 3 beeps are heard but I cannot hear the 4 beeps in Step 3. 

With my limited knowledge and ability I just don't know how to troubleshoot the problem leaving only the option of replacing the transmitter, then the gas valve and then the flame control. I can't find much online to guide me. 

I am hoping someone may have some experience on SIT that can give me some guidance.  

Regards and Happy New Year


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## DAKSY (Jan 2, 2018)

<Batteries in the remote are OK.>

What about the batteries in the receiver?


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## Clemson Tiger (Jan 2, 2018)

The SIT flame control is powered with DC provided via 120VAC. There is a way to use a 6VDC battery pack to run the unit if there is a power failure and trying to use it gives the same fault I reported above. 

Thanks for helping.


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## DAKSY (Jan 2, 2018)

https://manuals.fire-parts.com/aws-...i_troubleshooting_guide_1-pdf.pdf?inline=true


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## Clemson Tiger (Jan 2, 2018)

DAKSY said:


> https://manuals.fire-parts.com/aws-...i_troubleshooting_guide_1-pdf.pdf?inline=true


WOW! This is exactly what I was needing and the troubleshooting chart indicates that the ProFlame II remote is probably bad. I am going to order another and will report back the results when it arrives and is installed. 

Thanks so much
Regards
Ned Ford
Clemson University 1965--Clemson Tiger
US Navy


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## Millbilly (Jan 2, 2018)

Is there a switch to turn the fireplace on directly, bypassing the remote transmitter to rule it out? Also try fresh batteries in the transmitter even if you think you are good. Check your breaker make sure you are indeed running on house vac and not your battery backup.  And most importantly make sure you are not in tstat mode on your remote.


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## Clemson Tiger (Jan 23, 2018)

Here is the latest on the saga of fixing the Mendota FV-44! 

With good advice I began troubleshooting why there was a good pilot but no main flame when the remote was set to call for main flame.

To try and decide what was defective I measured the voltage output from the SIT controller to the SIT gas valve-it was zero! Should have been about 6 volts.

Then I took a 9 volt battery and jumpered it to the gas valve with the controller wire disconnected and the gas valve opened and gave a perfect main flame! Conclusion---the SIT controller was bad!

Ordered a new controller and everything worked fine when I installed it.

Thanks to everyone for their help and support in solving this problem.


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## papajean (Feb 12, 2019)

Clemson Tiger said:


> Here is the latest on the saga of fixing the Mendota FV-44!
> 
> With good advice I began troubleshooting why there was a good pilot but no main flame when the remote was set to call for main flame.
> 
> ...


Hi  I am new to this forum. I also have a FV-44i. I am having a problem with Pilot light not staying lit. I plan on replacing pilot assembly. When you changed the control did you have to remove the entire unit from the fireplace or were you able to use the access panel. I am having trouble disassembling the inner burner. Would appreciate any info you can provide. Thanks. Jean


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## wooduser (Feb 12, 2019)

Clemson Tiger said:


> The first indication of trouble was failure to fire in response to the remote being set to call for fire. Intermittently the gas valve would allow gas to come in and the main flame would last 15 seconds or so and then go out. During all of this the pilot stays on and looks good.




<<Except this time, 20- and 30-somethings will be entering the recession with a metric fsck ton of student load debt they won't be able to discharge via bankruptcy.

Please post the make and model of the electronic control module.

I'm presuming you have an intermittent pilot ignition control.  That means the pilot light is lit each time the main burner is turned on.

Carefully observe what happens at the pilot light when you turn the burner on.

The control module should turn on the gas to the pilot burner and a spark to light the pilot.  As soon as the pilot lights,  the spark should shut off,  the pilot burner should stay lit and the main burner should turn on and stay on until shut off.

How far in this ignition sequence does your fireplace get,  and where does it stop?

In particular,  when the pilot is lit it should engulf the flame sensor which senses if the pilot is lit.  The pilot should be a sharp blue flame,  like a small blowtorch.  It should not be a soft blue flame or have yellow tips  or turn up at the ends of the flame,  which may indicate a dirty pilot orifice that needs to be cleaned.


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## Millbilly (Feb 12, 2019)

Wooduser the sit proflame has a continuous pilot mode FYI.  It's why I prefer it.


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## wooduser (Feb 12, 2019)

Millbilly said:


> Wooduser the sit proflame has a continuous pilot mode FYI.  It's why I prefer it.




O----K.  Well,  we'll find out how it's being used and how it's behaving in detail.  

As I've mentioned before,  I'm twelve years retired from repairing gas appliances,  so some things are new to me.  But I can usually update my knowledge by finding a manual on a part or whatever.  

We'll see.


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