What to Look for in a Wood Burning Fire Pit Insert
January 9, 20243 min readWalden Backyards
Note: The Legacy Series insert is no longer in production. The insert set we carry now is the Burly Comfort II, which fits stone and masonry openings from 27 to 44 inches and includes a snuffer lid. This article has been updated to describe it.
Picture this: a crisp autumn night, you're nestled beside a crackling fire, marshmallows roasting perfectly, and laughter drifting into the starlit sky. If you already have a stone or masonry fire pit in the yard, you do not need to tear it out to get a better fire. You need a better insert. Here is what actually matters when you are choosing one.
1. It Should Fit the Pit You Already Built
This is the part most people get wrong, and it is the only measurement that counts. Measure straight across the inside of your opening, not the outside of the stonework. The Comfort II comes in three sizes covering openings from 27 to 44 inches, in round or square, so a retrofit into an existing pit is usually a matter of picking the right size rather than rebuilding anything.
2. Airflow Is What Cuts the Smoke
Smoke is mostly unburned fuel. Get more air to the fire in the right place and you burn more of it. The Comfort II does this with a double wall. Air is drawn in through vents near the bottom, travels up between the two walls where it heats, then re-enters through a ring of holes above the fire. That second pass burns off gases that would otherwise leave as smoke. It is the same principle the popular standalone bowls use, with one difference worth knowing: here it drops into the pit you already own.
A word on the term itself. No wood fire is truly smokeless, and anyone who tells you otherwise is overselling. Wet or unseasoned wood will smoke in any pit ever built. What good airflow does is cut the smoke substantially once the fire is up to temperature, which is a real and noticeable difference, just not a magic one.
3. It Should Protect the Stonework You Paid For
If you spent a weekend and a pallet of block building your pit, the insert should not cook it. The Comfort II has a brim that rests on the top course and shields the masonry from direct flame, and a solid vented floor that keeps ash contained instead of letting it work into the joints. Clean-up is a matter of lifting out the ash once it is cold.
4. You Want a Way to Put It Out
Ending the night should not involve a garden hose and a cloud of steam. A snuffer lid smothers the fire by cutting off its air, which puts it out cleanly and keeps rain out of the pit between fires. The Comfort II includes one sized to the insert, so it is not a separate purchase you discover later.
5. Where It Is Made Tells You Something
Steel thickness and finish are hard to judge from a photograph. Where a thing is built is easier to check, and it tends to track with whether anyone will answer the phone in three years. The Comfort II is made in the USA, in Richmond, Virginia.
Burly Comfort II Smokeless Fire Pit Insert Set
A double-wall insert that drops into the stone or masonry pit you already built. Air enters through the lower vents, heats between the walls and feeds back in above the fire for a second burn. Three sizes cover openings from 27 to 44 inches, round or square, and the snuffer lid is included.
Upgrade Your Backyard Experience
If you already have the pit, the insert is the cheapest real upgrade available to you. Measure your opening, pick the size that matches, and you are most of the way there. The Comfort II insert set is what we point people to for that job.
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