Lava Rock or Glass chips in fire pits
Sponsored LinksThe other day I received an e-mail from an individual who had an interesting problem and I want to share it with you because you may of faced the exact same thing. His email was this:
We made a natural gas fire pit and put a large amount of coloured glass chips in it. It works extremely well, looks fantastic but is pointless for roasting marshmallows : (.
It seems like an open flame just lights the marshmallows … We need embers. But I do not really wish to put wood in and cope with the ashes.
Proposals?
Thanks!
We here at Lava Rocks for Fire Pits.com never had a question or problem of this nature presented to us, but upon reflexion and talking about it with our staff this was our solution to this problem. We had seen it done before but only by a couple of folks.
our return email went as follows:
Your e-mail was interesting, we had not ever heard about this kind of problem before.
Glass chips make for a pretty fire, one where you wouldn't wish to mess it up with food drippings like marshmallows or hotdogs etc. And glass won't hold heat very well; or reflect radiant heat as well.
Lava rock seems to get only better with age thanks to the carbon build up caused from food burn to a “carbon crisp” (and lava rock hides these crumbs because the rock is not so uniform in size and color and is penetrable). The heat built up in the lava rock with natural gas or propane radiates better for roasting those party favorites due to the thin walls of the lava rocks ‘ micro caves, often turning them growing red (thus making ember like effects).
It all reduces down to a couple things you need to decide for yourself, and only you can answer them. Are you wanting a pretty fire pit or a handy fun fire pit? Or better why not both?
I've seen both functions built into the same fire pit.
In this one case we have seen, they put a double gas ring in the pit with one rings being larger in diameter than the other. And depending on your taste and style you are trying for, they put colored glass chips in the middle over the littler gas ring and lava rock on the outside over the larger diameter gas ring.
What this did was kind of cool. When these people wanted just pretty flames they turned on the center gas ring which was under the glass chips; but when they wanted a fun roasting flame they might turn on the larger outside ring, the one under the lava rock.
This may be something to think about.
I wish you all of the best and have a great time with this.
Lee
Building a backyard fire pit is fun and still can be helpful. There is not any need to sacrifice one for the other when you can have both. I'm hoping this document lets you see that you can create a extremely unique and fun fire pit for you own yard. Its something new to consider.
Lee Miller is your source for lava rock for fire pits and lava rock for bonsai check him out at his websites and if you have any comments or questions contact him from there.
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