Argos Valor Gas Fire Suite

toby_puppy

I bought a gas fires suite from Argos in Feb 10 and recently the grey pebbles on the fire have started turning black from the flames.

Argos were a bit unhelpful and in the end I rang the manufacturer and they sent me a new batch of replacement pebbles which have been laid out according to instructions.

At the weekend two of the new pebbles became blackended so now it looks unsightly on the light grey coloured pebbles.

Wanted to know what my rights are and also why the fire would suddenly start doing this. It was installed by a corgi reg gas fitter and was fine up to last month.

Thank you

rustyboy21

hi

It is possible your engineer has not checked the aeration on the side of the burner, which it states he has to do in the installer guide. It should be 'fully open' with the fire making bluish flames, if you have 'yellowy' flames then this is the problem.

pebble fires do soot the same as coals do, but being lighter, they show up more.

It could also be the way you are using the fire. If you switch the fire on when you come in from work and leave it on low, this will create more soot as the flue isnt warmed up enough to sufficiently draw the gases/soot out. You are supposed to run it on high for a good 10 mins first, then lower it, then periodically turn it up again to burn off excess soot

The fire is also a slimline fire which normally goes in a precast or prefabricated flue. These types of flue are a bit tempramental and don't draw as good as proper chimney pots. You may also have a blockage in the terminal on the roof, birds are renowned for building nests somewhere warm!

Hope the above helps