If a supplied fireplace in your Richmond rental is not working normally, first identify whether it is gas, electric, or wood-burning. The safe checks are different, and fireplace use may also be controlled by your lease or property-specific instructions.
If you smell gas, do not troubleshoot the fireplace. Leave the home and follow our Gas Smell & Suspected Gas Leak guidance.
Key Takeaways
- Identify the fireplace type before troubleshooting.
- Use only ordinary external controls, switches, remotes, and accessible remote batteries.
- Do not relight gas pilots, adjust gas valves, open service panels, or dismantle fireplace equipment.
- Smoke entering the room, gas odor, damaged glass, electrical burning odor, or sparking is a stop condition.
Gas Fireplace
If there is no gas odor and the fireplace is approved for use at your property, try only the normal control supplied for ordinary operation, such as the wall switch or remote.
If a remote is unresponsive and has an ordinary user-accessible battery compartment, replace its battery with the specified type.
Do not remove the fireplace service panel, turn unfamiliar gas valves, relight a pilot, adjust the ignition system, or attempt to reset internal controls.
Electric Fireplace
Use the normal power switch, wall control, or remote. If the fireplace is a plug-in model and its plug and outlet are normally accessible, confirm that the plug is fully seated without moving or dismantling the unit.
If the fireplace or outlet is hot, sparking, buzzing, smoking, discolored, or smells like burning electrical material, stop using it and follow our Electrical Warning Signs guide.
Wood-Burning Fireplace
Use a wood-burning fireplace only when your lease and property instructions permit it.
Keep combustible materials well away from the fireplace and use the installed screen or doors as intended. The U.S. Fire Administration recommends keeping items that can burn at least three feet from fireplaces.
If smoke enters the room unexpectedly, the damper or chimney does not appear to operate normally, masonry or fireplace components are damaged, or you are uncertain about safe operation, stop using the fireplace and report it.
When to Submit a Maintenance Request
If the fireplace still will not operate using its normal external controls, a control is damaged, the problem keeps returning, or you cannot proceed safely, submit a maintenance request through the resident portal.
Include whether the fireplace is gas, electric, or wood-burning if known, photos of the unit and normal controls, the exact symptom, and whether you observed any odor, smoke, alarm, electrical warning sign, or damaged glass.
Return to Special Systems in Richmond Rentals for other unusual supplied equipment.
Published: September 2, 2026
