Greetings--I'm a first time homeowner, and moved into my house in 2003. Our gas fireplace has been working fine until this winter (2006): The gas line no longer ignites...and I can't even tell if any air is coming out of the tiny holes. Couple things to note: -I haven't been terribly thorough about cleaning out the ashes from the fireplace, so this summer (2006) was the first time I finally did a good job. When I noticed the fireplace wasn't igniting, I even tried to clear each of the holes in the gas tubing with a paper clip. (This didn't help.) -We underwent a fairly substantial kitchen remodel just over a year ago, and the contractor did have to shut off the main gas line during one phase. Once he turned it back on, I did notice I had to "bleed" out quite a bit of air before my water heater's pilot light finally stayed lit. I don't want to blow up my neighborhood, so I'm a little leary of bleeding my fireplace. However, is there a technique for minimizing this, or do I simply have to hire a plumber to come check out my situation? Any suggestions/feedback is greatly appreciated.

How flexible are rubber couplings?? I have to replace a 6" stretch of pvc drain pipe that is very crooked and leaking from a coupler that wasn't glued properly. I'm putting in a pedestal sink and want all the connections straight. It's actually the t joint on the vent pipe the drain pipe comes off of that is cooked. The trap is on a 98 degree horizontal angle because of it. Doesn't look good. I really don't want to pull apart the wall and replace the T so instead I thought about using a rubber coupling to join the drain pipe to a piece of pvc that the elbow and trap are attached to. Will a rubber coupler bend the 8 degrees I need?? I have never used them before, especially to join two pvc pipes. thanks