Fire pit options

[Paul_B]

Anyone know where we can get a cheap (ish) fire pit during the lockdown? We've got a folding BBQ but it's not exactly right. Too thin and if it gets too hot it warps. Iirc you used to be able to get a decent, folding one from Outwell for £30 ish from camping and DIY shops.

Usage would be for van / tent camping in the post COVID 19 time or in the backyard for sitting out of an evening. Another possible use is to burn dry twigs and woody vegetation we've cleared from the back passageway. The tip is closed and we've got a pile that we cannot get rid of. Have to be careful, don't want to smoke the neighbours out!!

 

[TeeDee]

Check your local laybys and dumping / fly tipping grounds - find yourself a thrown Wheel Hub ( I found 5 the other day in one spot... ) - Wheel Hubs work pretty well as Fire Pits.

 

[Robson Valley]

Steel lorry wheels. The perforated drum liner out of a washing machine or an electric tumble dryer is good.
We can't have any biomass fires because of the effects that smoke has on respiration compromised by COVID-19.
Very spotty concern related to thermal inversions in valleys.

 

[MrEd]

Yeah govt in the uk is advising against bonfires of garden waste due to the risk of making respiratory conditions worse

Gas cylinder - empty of course - can make a good burn bin

 

[Brizzlebush]

Anyone know where we can get a cheap (ish) fire pit during the lockdown? We've got a folding BBQ but it's not exactly right. Too thin and if it gets too hot it warps. Iirc you used to be able to get a decent, folding one from Outwell for £30 ish from camping and DIY shops.

Usage would be for van / tent camping in the post COVID 19 time or in the backyard for sitting out of an evening. Another possible use is to burn dry twigs and woody vegetation we've cleared from the back passageway. The tip is closed and we've got a pile that we cannot get rid of. Have to be careful, don't want to smoke the neighbours out!!

As mentioned by others, I've got an old washing machine drum, mounted on threaded rods. I cut it in half (2 rounds) and pushed them together. Effectively making it half the height. This makes it a little less pretty, as you can't see as much fire through the holes. But, it makes the fire much less hungry. With all those holes it goes through wood like nobody's. It's easier to transport and store too.
Also it makes it slightly more efficient. The heat tends to go out of the top more than the sides, and this contains and disperses the heat a little better.
Also I've got an old wok, again mounted on threaded rods with wing nuts (collapsible for storage and transport). A hole drilled in the bottom stops it filling with water in case you leave it out in the rain.

Stay well people.

 

[Stew]

Washing machine drum works for me!

 

[Broch]

I have three fire pits - one on the patio, one in the fixed camp in the wood and a portable one that comes overland trekking with us.

The one in the garden is a full-on Kadai Fire Bowl, it's big and heavy. The one in the wood is like the first one below. Again heavy and solid, very good value; including a large tripod and hanging rack it was less than £100 at the end of year sale in the garden centre. The trekking one is like the second one below. It's nowhere near as big or robust but it works really well and I've used it at bush meets including the Bushmoot.

I've made fires out of washing machine drums and they work a treat but a) they're too big to pack to go camping and b) they never look like anything other than an old washing machine drum

Harbour Housewares Cast Iron Fire Pit | Outdoor Garden Patio Heater Camping Bowl for Wood, Charcoal - 75cm Diameter: Amazon.co.uk: Garden & Outdoors

Great prices on your favourite Gardening brands, and free delivery on eligible orders.

www.amazon.co.uk

Fire Vida Fire Pit Steel Folding Outdoor Garden Patio Heater Grill Camping Bowl BBQ With Poker, Grill, Mesh Lid, Grate: Amazon.co.uk: Garden & Outdoors

Fire Vida Fire Pit Steel Folding Outdoor Garden Patio Heater Grill Camping Bowl BBQ With Poker, Grill, Mesh Lid, Grate: Amazon.co.uk: Garden & Outdoors

www.amazon.co.uk

 

[Paul_B]

I'm looking at this.

Hacienda camping fire pit from Homebase

 

[Broch]

I'm looking at this.

Hacienda camping fire pit from Homebase

That looks exactly like the one I referenced above, and that we use camping/trekking, but cheaper. To be honest, I think we spent £35 on it two years ago so there may be a better deal out there somewhere.

 

[Paul_B]

We first looked at the type of pit in a DIY store when it was in offer at £15! We dithered and the offer ended with the price back up to £35. I kind of resented paying that when they were happy selling at less than half price. No it's a tenner more than the old full price so who's the idiot now!!!!

We'll probably buy it with a load of DIY stuff during this lockdown. That way my stinginess might not kick in.

 

[SaraR]

We just dug up a bit of the lawn and put some sand down.

 

[Paul_B]

Not easy with tarmac backyard. Anyone got a pickaxe to lend me?

 

[Broch]

Not easy with tarmac backyard. Anyone got a pickaxe to lend me?

Ah, careful, you're now opening up a whole new topic of advice: "it's not pickaxe you need for that job, you don't want to do it like that, what you need is a ……"

 

[TLM]

A terminology question: how do you call "pit" something that I am used to call "grill". What is the defining feature.

A nonnative writer asks.

 

[Broch]

A terminology question: how do you call "pit" something that I am used to call "grill". What is the defining feature.

A nonnative writer asks.

A good question - the Kadai range are called fire-bowls which is probably more accurate and the commercial ones above are variously called fire pits, fire bowls, grills etc. - I don't think there is a definition TBH.

I think the term 'fire pit' more accurately describes the 'permanent' ones that people build into their patios - a sort of stone or brick circle with some sort of hollow in the middle for the fire. But, that's just a personal view (I'm not English either after all!)

 

[TLM]

When somebody says "firepit" the image in my mind is something like I have seen in Hungary, a pit lined with stones or bricks or a concrete ring partly dug in.

A movable pit, what they'll invent next!

 

[Mesquite]

If you don't want to pay too much then get a BBQ grill like this, cut the legs down and you'll be sorted.

 

[Paul_B]

A good question - the Kadai range are called fire-bowls which is probably more accurate and the commercial ones above are variously called fire pits, fire bowls, grills etc. - I don't think there is a definition TBH.

I think the term 'fire pit' more accurately describes the 'permanent' ones that people build into their patios - a sort of stone or brick circle with some sort of hollow in the middle for the fire. But, that's just a personal view (I'm not English either after all!)

Not English but British, as in Brythonic perhaps??

Can I claim that too if I've got Welsh ancestry? Evans from the valleys, you know them?

 

[Qwerty]

Along the same lines, the hanging brazier from Clas Ohlson https://www.clasohlson.com/uk/Hanging-Brazier/p/31-4668

 

[Paul_B]

Interesting that, does it come with a grill?

Just had a BBQ and realised the heap of junk my parents gave us has finally rusted away before we could use it. Our old folding one was worse. We limped through the BBQ hoping the leg wouldn't give way but we now need a BBQ? We're thinking a firepit grill thing. Hence my question. I like the hanging thing but no in good without a grill.

IIRC you can get tripods that hold a grill or pots above a fire, even a fire bowl for underneath.