Do Smokeless Fire Pits Really Smoke Less?

Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and it's as simple as that. While a smokeless fire pit smokes less than a regular fire pit, it doesn’t create a smokeless fire. After doing a bit of digging, we realized smokeless fire pits do produce smoke it's just less smoke than your traditional fire pit.

The Truth Behind Smokeless Fire Pits

Overall smokeless fire pits were marketed very well. So well, in fact, they sold a lot of them with their convincing marketing message and advertising. We're going to explore how smokeless fire pits actually function and if it's worth investing in these costly machines rather than having your traditional smoke fire pit to rely on.

So what's the deal and how do they seemingly give off less smoke? The truth is smokeless fire pits give off the illusion of being smokeless by feeding the flames more oxygen, which allows for more complete combustion.

Basically, it's scientific in the sense that when oxygen is increased inside of these smokeless fire pits making it seem as though there is less smoke. However, there's always going to be some smoke and there an exact process into achieving less smoke in these specific fire pits. If you put too much wood or if there's too much ashes built up then it will actually smoke more.

That's why smokeless fire pits aren't necessary smokeless and why it's mostly a marketing ploy to convince buyers to purchase their product.

Traditional Wood Fire Pits vs. Smokeless Fire Pits

What most people don't know is that you can actually create your own smokeless fire pit using your traditional one. Read our blog on how to build a smokeless fire to learn more. You can keep the fire pit you own and either modify it with an accessory to create a smaller opening at the top or you can use smokeless firewood. Either of these two simple solutions can offer a way to enjoy the best of both worlds.

Add a lid to the fire pit’s design that uses fireproof material and reduces the hole at the top of the fire pit. You can purchase these ready-made. They look like snuffer lids but have a hole in the center to channel the smoke.

You can also dig a tunnel about a foot away from your fire pit that reaches it. Use this to feed in logs to keep the fire going. This enables the creation of a smaller hole at the top.

Burning ash, beech, or oak wood will also reduce the amount of smoke created, even if you don’t alter your fire pit. Using wood that’s kiln-dried also improves the amount of smoke produced.

As a consumer, it's your decision if you want to spend extra money on marketing or not. You can get a traditional fire pit, which has a lot less functional parts and actually there aren't really any replacements or repairs necessary. On the other hand with smokeless fire pits there are a few more working parts that do need to be attended to more often than not.

Overall, we believe if the old way worked well and it brought you the warm fire that the smokeless fire pit doesn't. Similar to re-inventing the wheel, if it isn't broke why fit it?

The Best Traditional Wood Fire Pit

Walden Backyards specializes in outdoor fire pits, designed to bring loved ones together and create lasting memories because nothing replaces those moments. Shop our top-rated Legacy Series Fire Pit Insert Set and Fireside accessories to start your own tradition right in your backyard.

Luxury Firepits - Firepit Accessories - Firepit Grates

Walden Backyards Makes the Highest Quality Fire Pits and Accessories

Legacy Firepit - Blow Through Stoker Poker - Fire Pit Grates - Accessories