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How to reduce fire pit smoke
How to reduce fire pit smoke
So you’ve gotten your fancy new fire pit and you’ve set it up. Your pals are on their way over with a slab of the finest Dutch Gold and well, your fire pit looks like Cape Canaveral after a successful launch. Not ideal. So, if you’re here you’re looking for ways to reduce the smoke coming from your fire pit, you’re in the right place. Let’s get into it.
Don’t use standard coal!
We’ll start with a basic one. Ideally, you should only use wood in your fire pit. Standard coals that you’d pick up in a supermarket have high levels of sulphur and other dirts that you don’t want blowing into your face too much at a party. The main reason for avoiding commercial coal is just because of how smokey it is.
There are alternatives like ‘smokeless coal’ or Charcoal available, however these would also need some kindling to get going at the beginning. Coal is very difficult to ‘get going’ at the start, so an ideal solution would be to use small amounts of smokeless coals in conjunction with our next recommendation: Dried Wood.
Use dried wood
Wood for burning comes in various different option. Fresh or ‘Green’ wood has more moisture in it than wood that has been left to dry out. The more moisture in a piece of wood, the more smoke you’re going to produce when it burns in your fire pit. Fuel stores like Finglas Fuels beside us often sell smokeless fire logs with less than 15% moisture in them. These logs known as Dried Wood (surprisingly) burn well and produce very little smoke. Kiln dried wood is ideal, but it does come with a larger price tag (due to the effort required to get it to the condition that it’s in)
Remember, if you buy dried wood, but store them in a place that is liable to damp or condensation, it can become moisture filled and rendered it less effective, so be sensible with where you’re storing your wood.
Give it some airflow
If you just fling your wood, some fire-starters and the odd bit of coal into your fire pit, you’re probably not going to get much out of it. How you physically assemble the wood is an important factor in how well it’ll burn. There are several ways to construct a fire pit that won’t have you coughing up your lungs.
The most common will see you building it so that it looks like a Jenga Stack, like this:
This will allow the air to flow out in and out of several different areas of the fire, giving the structure a more complete combustion construction, which leads to less smoke overall. In a nutshell, more oxygen to your fire pit = less smoke. You can place small amounts of smokeless coals inside and around the base of this structure to add some longevity to the burning time of your fire too, if needed.
An alternative construction method involves making a circle of kindling materials int he base of your fire pit and then making a teepee like structure around this. Light the kindling with a firestarter and the wood will burn slowly and smoke-free over time. It’ll look like this:
If this is all a bit too abstract for you, Woodland Direct have a great video on how to go about assembling your fire pit if you’re stuck.
Don’t burn rubbish
If like me (a classy individual) you’re sat there, delighted with life and you have an empty bag of Mega Meanies in your hand. The last thing you want to do is throw that bag in the fire. Sure the pyromaniac inside you is curious as to how it’ll burn, but you’re creating a few issues issues here:
- It’s gonna make a weird, potentially noxious smell. (Even items that aren’t nuclear-pickled-onion flavour will do this)
- You’re creating fine, clustered debris and reducing airflow to the base of your fire-pit
- It’s potentially illegal.
So just stick the rubbish in the nearest bin.
Order your fire pit
We sell three fire pits here at sheds direct Ireland that are ideal for your garden. All the above will apply to these little beauties and we even have a chiminea should you want to really redirect whatever smoke does come off your firepit.
You can call our showroom at 018644247 if you want to talk to our sales team about any of the technical sides of these items, you can get us on Facebook or over on Instagram, if you want to speak to us without speaking to us or you can use the live chat on this website here! Just a heads up, these are all only monitored during business hours, so if you have a question about a fire pit at 2am on a Tuesday morning, I’m afraid it’ll have to wait!
Be Safe
As always, whenever we speak about fire-pits, you should only use them in a safe manner. Don’t use them in small gardens with flammable materials nearby, don’t leave them unattended and don’t throw combustibles into them. The list goes on, but stay safe. You look so much better with your eyebrows intact.