Gas fireplace repair

Our Barbas Sirocco 350 gas fireplace

Our Barbas Sirocco 350 gas fireplace is functional but makes a rattling noise after ignition. The rattling noise stops after some minutes, but is quite annoying. Over time, it seems to take longer and longer before the rattling stops. I went online to see if I could find some information about this issue, but there was hardly anything out there. That is why I decided, after successfully repairing it, to write this post. Two warnings before you try this yourself:

• there is no inspection hatch. You have to take it apart completely; which is not easy and a lot of work.
• do not forget to switch off the gas and mains power!

What I did found online, was the website of the manufacturer. I contacted them by e-mail and phone, they are very friendly and supportive. I called them and they sent me the documentation and told me the problem could be one of the three values or the modubox. The modubox contains the control circuit board. To test which value causes the problem, I was told to swap the outer valves. If the problem does not change, than the cause is probably in the modubox. I took photo's while I was taking the fireplace apart, I could refer to those photo's when I had to put it together again. I recommend you to do the same!

Front frame and glass removed

As I already mentioned, there is no inspection hatch. You have to take it apart starting at the front frame, working inwards. First remove the metal frame using an Allen wrench / screwdriver. Remove the metal clips and then the glass.

Red circle shows the panel that gives access to the gas connection

Remove the fake wood and all the screws. Take out all metal parts. The panel in the image above gives access to the gas connection.

Use a wrench to disconnect the gas connection

After removing the panel, use a wrench to disconnect the gas pipe. Make sure the gas is closed!

The unit removed

When the gas pipe is disconnected from the unit, you can lift it and disconnect the electricity. Make sure the mains power is turned off! Note that the unit has sharp screws pointing down. You don't want those on your wooden floor or table.

The unit with the modubox and the valves

The image above shows the opened unit. The modubox on the left and the three valves on the right. First thing to try is swapping the two outer valves pointed to by the arrows. Remove the cable lugs and the nut and washer on top of these valves. You can then push the valve to the back. In my case there was not enough room to remove them. I first had to remove the two black screws on the modubox side and use some force. After swapping the valves and putting it all back together I switched the mains power and gas back on. First the gas was not flowing. It worked when I tried fifteen minutes later. I read online that this is due to a safety valve in the gas meter. If after waiting for fifteen minutes, the gas is still not flowing, you can try to blow in the gas pipe to move the safety valve. In my case the issue with the rattling noise did not change. Next thing to inspect is the modubox.

The modubox enclosure and circuit board

After coming this far I decided to take the fireplace apart again and inspect the modubox. The image above shows the modubox enclosure and circuit board.

This stain took my attention

The stain under the electrolytic capacitor on the circuit board on the left, above took my attention. I used my multimeter to measure the capacity of this electrolytic capacitor. It turned out that it had lost all of its capacity.

Replaced capacitor

In one of the circuit board that I have in my drawer, I found a capacitor with the correct capacity and voltage (47uF, 50V, 105℃). This time the fireplace worked like a charm after putting it all back together again!