What the $99 visit is for
San Antonio fireplaces spend most of the year closed. Dust from caliche lots, oak pollen, and insects settle in the burner and the exterior cap while the rest of the house runs air conditioning. The first cool evening is when those problems show up as a fireplace that will not light, a remote that does nothing, or a glass panel that films over in an hour.
The safety inspection is the scheduled version of that visit, done before you need the heat. We open the unit, test the safety circuit, clean what is blocking combustion, and leave you a list. It is the right booking if the fireplace still “kind of works” or has not been serviced since you bought the house in Stone Oak, Alamo Heights, or along Loop 1604.
If the fireplace is already dead, book troubleshooting instead. That $69 visit chases the symptom first. You can always add a full inspection on the same trip if the unit is worth keeping.
How the appointment runs
We start outside at the vent termination — roof cap or side-wall kit — because a nest or crushed pipe will make every interior test look like a failed valve. Then we shut the gas at the appliance valve, remove the glass, and work through ignition, sensors, burner ports, log placement, and gaskets. We test-fire only after the vent path is clear. Delayed ignition (a pop on light-off) is treated as a finding, not a personality trait of the fireplace.
Homes in The Dominion and Shavano Park often have electronic ignition and blowers. Production homes inside 1604 more often have millivolt standing pilots and a wall switch. The inspection covers both. It does not include rebuilding a masonry chimney or selling you a new insert. If the firebox or vent is beyond a serviceable repair, the report will say so in plain language.
When to schedule in this climate
Late summer through early fall is the useful window. After the first norther, parts for Heatilator, Heat & Glo, Napoleon, and Majestic units compete with every other heating call in Bexar County. An inspection in September also catches wasp nests in the cap while they are still obvious, before a cold night forces a light-off against a blocked vent.
If you are listing a house in Alamo Heights or Terrell Hills, the same visit gives a buyer a current snapshot of the gas appliance. It is not a code inspection for the city, and we will not pretend it is. It is a technician’s report on whether the unit is safe to operate.
What you receive in writing
Every inspection ends with a simple report: passed items, failed items, and a short note on anything that is safe to watch versus unsafe to operate. We would rather you have that paper on the fridge than a verbal summary you cannot reconstruct when a spouse asks what we found. If a thermopile is marginal but still holding, we will say it is marginal. If a cap is crushed, we will say the fireplace should stay off until the cap is replaced.
The $99 fee covers one gas fireplace. Additional units at the same San Antonio address are faster because the tools are already out. Outdoor fire tables and grill burners are a different appliance; mention them in the details field so we do not assume they are part of this visit.
Inspection versus a home inspector’s note
Real-estate inspectors in Bexar County will often flag a fireplace they did not operate, or they will note soot without removing the glass. Our visit is the opposite: we operate the unit after we verify the vent, and we remove the glass. If you were told “have a specialist look at this” on a Stone Oak or Terrell Hills listing, this is that specialist visit. It is still not a municipal permit inspection, and we will not sign a form that claims otherwise.
Heavy film on the glass after a short fire usually means the gasket or log layout is wrong. That is covered on the inspection and, if you already know the glass is the issue, on our cleaning page. Failed sensors and valves are repair items quoted after the inspection.
