Wood or gas fire pit?

[Attrill]

Originally Posted by mkarch

Gosh, really?

Similar issue here, wood burning might not be the only or the major cause of pollution, but it's often discretionary and easy to curtail. .

It's a matter of scale - your comparison is like using hurricane Sandy to make a case for low flow toilets. It makes no sense.

[blueherons]

If I lived in a gated community with neighbors, I'd use gas or propane (those fire pits you buy at Costco).

If I lived on more than an acre of land and had a place to store stacked wood, I'd use wood.

I'd have an actual outdoor fireplace with the wood and not one of those wood pits. No.

[mkarch]

Originally Posted by Attrill

It's a matter of scale - your comparison is like using hurricane Sandy to make a case for low flow toilets. It makes no sense.

It is, but you're using a different scale. If the valley out there was as populated as the LA basin instead of being mostly cow pastures, the same thing would happen.

[Linda_d]

Here in NYS, there's a state-wide ban on open burning because of concerns over pollution and safety. However, campfires are allowed because they aren't the problem. The two real culprits are people in rural/exurban areas burning their garbage and trash, and the rural/suburban/exurban people who burn leaves in the fall and weeds in the spring. Because they don't want to recycle or pay for trash refuse, just about every home in my county outside of city or town limits had a "burn barrel" -- and most still do (the law is largely ignored). Then there's the horse's backsides who just have to burn weeds on windy spring days after it hasn't rained for 10 days ... grass fires have taken out more garages, barns, chicken coops, and outhouses in NYS over the last 50 years than forest fires in twice that time frame.

[blueherons]

My husband and I used to live in a REALLY upscale neighborhood in South Carolina and our neighbor kept burning garbage. Stuff like old computers.

We finally had to call the police to get him to stop. It was horrible.

Don't people realize this is toxic?

[Colorado^]

Fire!!!

We have this pit on our property. On the deck we have a charcoal big green egg for cooking. Inside the house we have very convincing gas fireplace.

I like to add either a gas fire pit or potbelly stove on the deck so we can keep warm. Things tend to get cold, even in summer at 10Kft ASL.

As a side note, the charcoal egg is amazing for cooking in cold temps. 600-700 degs is easily achieved in sub zero weather.

Wood/charcoal is just the best for cooking.

We have a ton of dead fall on our property, so having a fire is a good motivator to clear the land. Bucking wood is good exercise.

[Threerun]

Originally Posted by blueherons

My husband and I used to live in a REALLY upscale neighborhood in South Carolina and our neighbor kept burning garbage. Stuff like old computers.

We finally had to call the police to get him to stop. It was horrible.

Don't people realize this is toxic?

Burning computers? Well yeah that's toxic. But wood? Nah..

[lenniel]

Follow up question for anyone who has done a gas fire pit hooked into your homes natural gas line: Did you buy a 'kit' and have it professionally installed? There are a lot of kit options online so this is adding to my confusion.
How large of a ring did you go with? Would you go larger/smaller if you did it again?
Did you have to buy a pan for the ring to sit in and then fill the pan with rock/glass/whatever? Not all the kits come with a pan.
We're having our patio/pit built by a contractor but I need to provide the gas kit that will then be hooked up by a licensed technician to the homes natural gas.

Any other advice?
Thanks.

[jackmichigan]

Originally Posted by lenniel

Follow up question for anyone who has done a gas fire pit hooked into your homes natural gas line: Did you buy a 'kit' and have it professionally installed? There are a lot of kit options online so this is adding to my confusion.

All of the materials you need should be readily available at most good hardware/building supply stores. If you buy a "kit" you're probably just paying extra for the convenience of having those materials gathered into one place...however, your particular situation (e.g. length of piping needed, etc.) may not match what is supplied in a kit anyway. If you're not comfortable buying the supplies needed, just have your contractor provide them. They may have much of it already in stock. (Knowing what supplies you need is key.)