Most furnaces do not work without electricity. I suspect your fireplace is the same. It is a safety feature.

That’s correct about furnaces but not true about most gas fireplaces...you need a long match stick...turn your gas on...should be a knob at the side of the fireplace...turn on low...be careful...good luck!...

@tigerdunes. I only see a small plastic dial on the metal valve itself. it's in the on position. I tired lighting it but no flames. I tried turning it the other way and no luck. I am guess my furnace auto closes the valve when there is no power.

I don't know if this is the problem but if this is Texas I saw something about natural gas being down. Not sure if it was or still is.

A gas fireplace should still work even if the power is out as long as you have gas. It just requires you to manually light it. We had fireplaces in 2 previous houses and we lit them during power outages.

The nat gas for your fireplace should operate independently of your furnace. Some knobs you must push in and then turn. I would check with a neighbor and see if they have nat gas to their appliances. do you have nat gas to any appliances?..

@tigerdunes my boiler, dryer and burners are natural gas as well as my fireplace.

Do your burners work?

@vinmarks yes the burners work with a match. the fireplace, when I put a match on it, it does not light.

Ok so you have gas. Do you have the manual to the fireplace or know the model so that maybe you can look online for instructions?

@vinmark that was the first thing I checked. no markings what so ever so I can't seem to figure out which model it is.

quick update on the gas fireplace setup.

it has 2 "piezo igniter for gas fireplace" one on each side of the glass panel. One of them is being depressed by the glass panel, The other on the other side of the see through fireplace is always not pressed. If I try to press the other one, it shuts off the fireplace. So only 1 can has to be always pressed.

Not sure this as anything to do with getting my fireplace to start without electricity.

Do you have any idea where the pilot light would be? Had you been using the fireplace before this? Can you post pictures?

If I remember correctly on ours there was a pilot button that you had to turn and then push in and hold as you use a match near where the pilot light would be. Make sure gas knob is turned on.

Can you post the brand and model number of the fireplace? This may lead us to the lighting instructions. If the furnace has piezo ignitor provides the spark to light the gas, but the gas has to be flowing in order to me ignited. A long match can be used if the ignitor is not generating a spark.

You may not have gas. The electricity is out because the power plants do not have gas.

yes we use the fireplace everyday prior to the blackout. I tried to light the pilot with a match before but it doesn't light up. I think the gas valve fully closes when power is off because prior to the blackout when I turn the switch on, it lights the pilot then it lights the fireplace. I don't see any sort of ignite button anywhere. maybe this is some sort of a hack job fireplace?

There is nothing that looks like a knob? We had a knob that had to be turned to P. To light the pilot you turned it to P then pushed it in and held it and then lit where the pilot would be. Maybe your fireplace has some sort of safety feature preventing it from being used without power? Does your fireplace have a plate below the glass that you can remove where knobs may be? Thats where our knobs to light pilot were.

Unlike a millivolt gas fire, some "wall switch" gas fires require 110v to operate the gas valve regardless of whether you hold a match next to the burners.

Where are you located? USA or Canada? What make and model is the gas fireplace/log set?

You really need to post the model of the fireplace.

I had gas logs (Peterson Real Fyre) that had an electric gas valve, but the valve knob was accessible in the firebox and you could turn it on and light it manually with a match. My current direct vent gas fireplace (Mendota) also has an electric valve, and during the installation we installed an emergency power jack in the wall next to the fireplace. I have a battery pack I can plug in there to keep the fireplace operating during an A/C power outage. Each manufacturer does it a little differently.

Bruce

unfortunately there no markings on the fireplace that would tell me the make or model. I do not have an access panel on the bottom either. my access panel is on the side of the fireplace.

Maybe try hearth.com forum under the "It's a Gas" forum. There's a lot of knowledgeable folks over there. I'd be clueless about using my wood stove if it wasn't for that forum. If you can give them a photo of your fireplace and a photo of what's inside the side panel it would be helpful.