Smokeless Fire Pit Heaven: 5 Tips To Reduce Fire Pit Smoke

5 Tips On How To Reduce Fire Pit Smoke

Are you Looking for tips on reducing fire pit smoke and making a smokeless fire pit? You’ve come to the right place!

We have some top tips on reducing fire pit smoke, so you don’t have to worry about that problem again.

Let’s dive in:

Why Is My Fire Pit Smoking So Much?

We must first consider why our fire pit might produce more smoke than normal.

A wood-burning smokeless fire pit is impossible, but we can get close.

In general, excess smoke from your fire pit is due to a few factors:

• How seasoned is your fire pit wood (in other words, how much moisture is in the wood)

• Any debris left in the fire pit

• With high sap content in your wood, the wood could be dry but green

• Not stacking your fire properly

• Burning the wrong stuff

Other factors like wind also play a small role in producing smoke, but far less than the above list. 

For safety reasons, you’ll want to ensure you keep your fire pit out of high-windy areas.

Our Top Tips To Reduce Fire Pit Smoke

• Use properly seasoned fire pit wood

• Don’t burn anything other than your seasoned wood

• Make sure you store your wood correctly

• Build your fire correctly

• Clean your fire pit often

Now that we have the causes in our minds let’s dive into our top 5 tips to reduce fire pit smoke.

1. Use Properly Seasoned Firewood

The simplest answer to reducing your fire pit smoke, and the most efficient way for that matter, is to use good, well-seasoned hardwood.

Any moisture in the wood will cause additional smoke.  Similarly, using softwood as your primary fuel will produce far more smoke than hardwood.

If you can, getting kiln-dried seasoned hardwood is your gold standard for reducing the amount of smoke your fire pit produces.

2. Don’t Burn Anything Other Than Your Seasoned Wood

This one might sound obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people don’t realise this.  If you want to reduce fire pit smoke, then don’t burn anything other than your seasoned hardwood!

Don’t throw empty packets, garden waste, newspapers, cardboard boxes, or anything else in there. 

These all burn very inefficiently and will produce a lot of smoke.  So even though it feels like a great way of getting rid of rubbish, don’t do it!

3. Make Sure You Store Your Wood Properly

It’s all very well getting the best-seasoned wood you can, but if you don’t store it well and make sure it stays nice and dry, then you are still going to have an issue with excess smoke.

Protecting your wood from the elements, particularly through the wet, cold winters, is essential to maintaining the quality of the wood you want to burn.

A good log store isn’t hard to come by, and, in our opinion, is also a beautiful addition to your outdoor space.

We have a great selection of wood stores for almost every space you could imagine!

4. Build Your Fire Correctly

Building your fire correctly so that there is just the right amount of airflow is very important, too, when it comes to keeping smoke to a minimum.

If you’re unsure how to build a proper fire in your fire pit, or you want a bit of a refresher on how to do it perfectly every time, we have a step-by-step guide to help you.

5. Clean Your Fire Pit Often

As we’ve mentioned above, any bits of debris in your fire pit can cause additional smoke, so all that leftover ash and wood shavings you can’t be bothered cleaning out each time will have a big impact.

You want to ensure your fire pit is clean before every use to avoid unnecessary smoke.  

We recommend doing cleaning as a part of your extinguishing routine rather than just before you use your fire pit!

Final Thoughts

So, there you have it, our 5 tips on how to reduce fire pit smoke.  Reducing the amount of smoke your fire pit produces isn’t difficult; it just requires a bit of vigilance.  

Post Code Checker

Using a wood burner outside is legal; being a nuisance with an outdoor fire can cause problems with the neighbours and the local council. Here is our local council checker for their guidelines.

Post Code Checker. 

This is currently for postcodes in England and Wales. It will soon expand to Scotland and Northern Ireland.