I have an older (20 yrs or so) Heatilator gas fireplace heater. It’s self contained, not a gas insert in a regular fireplace. The pilot is out, can’t remember if we turned it off for the summer or not, but I don’t think we did.

Anyway, it won’t light. The propane tank (buried in the yard) shows 80% and we’re on automatic delivery, so it has gas. I’ve lit pilots before, on gas water heaters, with no problem, so I know how it works. The piezo lighter doesn’t work, and hasn’t for the 4 years we’ve been here, so I’m using a lighter. We had an issue when we first moved in, and had someone come out and light the pilot as the tank had run out, and we had it refilled. It took a long time for the air to get purged out the the gas line. The heater worked normally afterwards.

The gas valve is on, the pilot knob is set to ”pilot”, and I’m pressing and holding it until my fingers go numb. For 20 minutes. Repeatedly. Nothing. I don’t smell any gas at all. There is a switch that turns the heater on and off, turning that on doesn’t do anything, assuming it’s for the burners only.

I called our propane provider but they can’t come out for at least 3 weeks due to no-heat calls, which I understand, and want $120 to light it. I may have no choice but to wait.

Any suggestions as to what I may be missing? Thanks.