When I light my unvented gas heater, I smell fumes. I think it needs cleaning. How do I do this?

No mate , cannot do it you need to buy them as is .

do you see any flames at all no mater how small, if you do try cleaning the element. how about a vote.

Becky, heaters are picking up the fresh paint smell and making it 50 times worse. Although you may not be able to detect the odor, the heaters are picking it up. You need to turn the heaters completely OFF (pilot lights too). Wait at least 2 weeks before trying to use them again. If you have some good, warm days that you can open some windows, that will help to get the paint odor out of the house.
The odor is really not in the heaters, it's still picking up the fresh paint odor that your nose can't detect.

In addition, if you use commercial carpet cleaning products, the heaters should be turned OFF before cleaning the carpets and remain OFF for several days.

Vent-free Gas Heaters are very, very safe & efficient. But, because they use interior air for combustion, they pickup any strong odors and make them worse. Also, never burn scented candles and operate the heaters at the same time. Scented Candles soot anyway, adding the warm moist heat from the heater(s), will make them soot 50 times worse.

This should solve your problem.

An un-vented heater should never smell like raw gas, you may get an odor of combustion by-products but never raw gas. If you are getting the raw gas smell you either have a gas leak or incomplete combustion. Always follow manufacturers operation instructions that state "open window 1/4" to allow combustion air" If the unit is brand new, you will get an odor for 20 minutes or so of oils burning off of the heater but that smell should go away. Do you have a Carbon monoxide detector in the house? You should!

I have the same issue. According to the furnace repairman the duct for the fan inside the unit is rusted out causing it to burn very dirty and produce that smell. In my case the furnace needs to be replaced. Hopefully you're more lucky than I. Hope this helps

Fumes are bad, stop using it until a technician has checked it out. Get a CO detector!

1. You can try repositioning the thermostat bulb.
2. It's possible that the valve is defective.

You must have a leak somewhere..Do not use this heater as it could be very dangerous.