How to Get More Heat from a Fire Pit
How do I get more heat from my fire pit?
The key to making the most of your outdoor fire pit is to produce radiant heat. This means capturing the heat from the flames into materials which will retain it and radiate it over time. To understand how to do it, let’s first look into why outdoor fire pits don’t retain heat.
Why do fire pits don’t retain heat?
Outdoor fire pits don’t retain heat well if there is nothing to capture and retain the heat. Most of the heat is lost if it goes up into the air without any barrier. Apart from that, as fire pits have an open flame, wind can move warmth out of the space around the fire pit very quickly.
This brings up the following questions to answer: How can you get more heat from my outdoor fireplace? How do you reflect heat from a fire? How to spread out heat from a fire pit? Read on to see how to solve these problems.
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How do I make my fire pit radiate more heat?
Ways to get more heat from a fire pit
To get more heat from your fire pit you can do the following:
Use a heat deflector
Most of the heat from a fire pit goes upwards. If you place any type of reflector above the fire, it will increase the heat radiated to the sides. You can use a sheet of metal or ready made heat deflectors.
Add lava rocks or stones
When hot gas leaving the fire pit has to travel through some material retaining heat, your fire pit will radiate more heat. Good options of such materials are: white chamotte, fire resistant ceramics (they can be also beautifully decorative), lava rocks, glass marbles or stone.
Large Lava Rocks
Ceramic Fibre Pebbles for Gas Firepits, Stoves
Increase the surface area of the fire
Keep a larger or higher fire going, this way you will get a hotter burning fire pit. To get more oxygen
More oxygen
Supply more oxygen to the fire. The more oxygen a fire gets, the hotter the flames burn. To provide more oxygen to the fire you can use a bellow, like the one below:
Electric Fire Bellows – Air Blower
Enclose the fire pit area
To retain the heat you can use patio curtains, roll-up bamboo shades or a wooden fence. The smaller the enclosed space, the better as the fire will have less air to heat. This will also give wind protection and stop the wind from blowing away the heat.
Use softer and dry wood
A fire burns hotter on soft and dry wood. Softwood also burns faster and with energy and heat. Although hardwood lasts longer and burns at a higher temperature, it takes much longer to reach the maximum temperature and it gives off less heat. Softwood on the other hand, although it burns at a lower temperature, it reaches high temperature quicker.
What is the best way to retain heat from a fire pit?
The single most impactful thing you can do to retain your fire pit heat is a heat deflector placed above the fire.
How to make a gas fire pit hotter
How do I get more heat from my propane fire pit?
There are a few things you can do to get more heat from your propane fire pit.
Here are some tricks to make your gas fire pit hotter:
- Add lava rocks to your fire pit, they will radiate heat towards you
- Provide more oxygen – give it a stream of air – this will facilitate the chemical reaction and the fuel will burn at a higher rate
- Sink your gas pit in the ground
- Increase pressure in the gas tank
- Try to increase the fire with adjustment valve
- You may need to clean the gas pipes
How can I get my gas fire pit to have a larger flame?
To increase the size of a gas fire pit:
- stack up lava rocks or steel logs into a pile
- let more oxygen in
Do propane fire pits give off heat?
Yes, propane fire pits give off a lot of heat. However, most of the heat will be carried up and away, so they don’t retain the heat very well. The solution to this is to use a reflective hood to divert the heat back down.
How do I make my wood fire pit hotter?
You can make your wood fire hotter in the following ways:
- Use small pieces of wood to increase the burning surface
- Increase the space between the wood logs to allow more oxygen (more oxygen increases the temperature)
- Use a bellows to blow oxygen to the base of the fire
Frequent questions about making fire pits hotter
What is the best material to radiate heat to the sides of a fire pit?
Soapstone is the best for radiating heat back to the sides. It can be used in wood fire pits as well as gas fire pits.
What fire pit gives off the most heat?
Wood-burning fire pits give off the most heat. This is because wood burns hotter than gas and wood coals are capable of retaining some heat.
There are also dual heat fire pits available to buy on Amazon. They are gas fire pits with a special heating system. Apart from the flames on the top of the table, hot air blows out the sides below the table.
Dual Heat Donovan Fire Pit
Do gas fire pits or wood fire pits give more heat?
Wood fire pits give more heat because wood burns at a higher temperature than gas and the wood coals give off more heat. However, gas fire pits are easier and cleaner to use.
Which fire pit puts out the most heat?
Fire pits which are the best heat source are wood fire pits as well as those placed low or built into the ground.
Natural gas vs propane fire pits: which give off more heat?
Both types have similar heating qualities, however a propane fire pit will give you more heat than a natural gas fire pit.
Do fire pits keep you warm?
Yes, a fire pit can keep you warm. How well a fire pit will keep you warm depends on the type of your fire pit and the external conditions.
Does a fire pit heat deflector work?
Yes, a fire pit reflector does a great job! They stop the heat escaping into the air and divert it back downwards and sideways to keep you warm.
What wood burns the hottest?
What is the hottest burning wood? Hardwoods are the hottest burning types of wood. The hottest burning woods include:
- hickory
- birch
- apple
- ironwood
- oak
- ash
- cherry
- mulberry
But, remember, as we mentioned earlier, it takes much longer for hardwood to reach a high temperature, so it may be more practical to use softer wood as it will reach a high temperature sooner.
On the other hand, the least amount of heat you will get from aspen, cedar, alder, white pine, cottonwood and redwood.
What burns hotter wood or charcoal?
Charcoal burns hotter and longer than wood. It burns at temperatures over 2.010 degrees Fahrenheit (1.100 degrees Celsius).
What contains more heat: an outdoor fireplace or fire pit?
A fireplace retains heat better than a fire pit. Why? It’s because the fire is contained, so the flames and brick walls of the fireplace will radiate more heat. You can also position your fireplace in a way to block the wind.
Final note
To summarize, the best ways to get more heat from your fire pit are placing a heat deflector above the fire, adding heat retaining material to the fire pit and preventing the heat to escape from the area where you are sitting.
What are your ways to keep your fire pit hot? Share in the comments below!
