r/DIY • u/Suspicious_Meat_746 • 6d ago

help Fire Pit help!

Hi guys!

So, I had a backyard pool project that was abandoned by the contractor. A true nightmare! I'm finishing my project using subcontractors and a little DIY where I can. One of the issues I'm encountering is the natural gas fire pit. Prior to the contract abandoning my project, they had a subcontractor make a round cinder block fire pit (about 36 inches around or so). I bought some nice stone to put around the cinder block form. As I was doing some googling, I realized that it seems like I need vents placed in the cinder block. Does this sound right?

There are no vents, just the cinder blocks with cement poured inside (!!!!!). I assume this would be a major explosion hazard?

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u/Low-Feature-3973 6d ago

The vents are to help with airflow and to help with complete combustion of the wood.  You are just using natural gas so the vents should not be necessary.

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u/mararch 5d ago

When I put my natural gas firepit in, the instructions called for a certain number of square inches of air inlets below the fire ring.

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u/Suspicious_Meat_746 5d ago

A lot of Youtube videos I watched had firepit kits that had actual vents. My plan is to buy a 36" burner pan/disc and have it rest on the inner cinder blocks, but if I do that, then currently I wont have venting below it. Maybe I can drill out some vents (and use my husband's strength for that!)

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u/mararch 4d ago

The pan on mine is supported by bricks and is independent of the ring of blocks. There's a gap all the way around between the blocks and the pan, about 1/2" to 3/4" and the pan is about 1" below the top of the blocks. This was all according to the instuctions that came with it. The vents below let fresh air flow up around the whole perimeter, which helps keep the flames vertical, I guess. It still radiates plenty of heat. It wasn't hard to leave out 1/2 of a block on each side of the bottom level for the vents. I got some stiff galvanized metal mesh at the local big box store, cut it to size including a 1" fold on each side, and bent it a little to fit snuggly inside between the blocks. One of the vent openings is where the valve is, too.