The Key to a Great Fire in Your Fire Pit

With spring having finally arrived, it’s getting closer to the season for having bonfires outdoors, surrounded by friends and family. There’s nothing like a crackling fire on a spring or summer evening! If you’re interested in getting the best experience out of your custom fire pit during your next bonfire in Seattle, WA, here are some tips you should keep in mind:

• Use on concrete: Do not place your fire pit on grass or a deck—set it on top of concrete, sand, asphalt, brick or packed dirt instead. Your lawn will burn up from the heat of the fire pretty quickly, and having it on top of a wooden deck is a big fire risk. You should have a heatproof footprint that is at least 24” x 30” so you can prevent any damage caused by the heat.
• Make sure you’ve got a good base: You can’t have a good fire without a good base, and it’s your job to build up that base. You can’t expect to start a good fire just by tossing in a log and soaking it with lighter fluid. You should start with small pieces of kindling and maybe a bit of paper, working your way up to larger pieces. You need to create a coal bed that has high enough ambient temperatures where logs will actually start to burn. It takes a little bit of time to do this. There needs to be plenty of room to breathe as well, so make sure you’re not smothering the bottom of your fire pit. It needs oxygen to keep the burn going.
• Consider the wind: If you know the conditions are going to be windy when you have your bonfire, you might consider moving your fire pit to an area that’s going to be at least partially concealed from the wind. Of course, you need to be careful about being too close to structures, but strategic placement of your custom fire pit in Seattle, WA can prevent embers from flying all over the place and ash from getting in the eyes of your guests.
• Keep it dry: Both the fire pit and your fire wood should be kept dry. Otherwise, you’re going to have a hard time getting a good burn going. If you have no choice but to keep your wood and your fire pit outside, you should make sure they’re covered. Get a special cover for your fire pit, and place a tarp over your wood pile. The wood pile should also never sit directly on the ground, as it could absorb moisture that way. Have a special rack set up, and stack the wood on top of that. This allows all the wood to dry out evenly and keeps it from soaking up moisture from the ground.
• Don’t worry too much about discoloration: It’s natural for your custom fire pit in Seattle, WA to experience some discoloration after it’s been used for fires. That’s completely okay, and will not affect the pit’s performance.

For more information about getting the most out of your fire this summer, contact Custom Fire Art today.

Categorised in: Custom Fire Pits

This post was written by Writer