How To Build A Smokeless Fire Pit? (2023)

Inviting friends and family into your backyard to enjoy an evening gathered around a fire pit is an activity that many Americans enjoy. However, it’s so easy for these fire pits to become smoky and contribute to air pollution in ways that will make everyone wish they’d stayed inside.

That’s why having a smokeless fire pit is so important. These pits are designed so that they don’t produce large amounts of smoke, leaving the air and your clothes fresh.

There are many ways to build a smokeless fire pit. In this article, we’re going to introduce a method that is easy to make at home and in our opinion, is one of the more stylish options! It should also be safe to use as long as you follow our instructions and general safety information. Let’s get started!

How To Build A Smokeless Fire Pit?

We will give you a step-by-step guide to building your own smokeless fire pit. We’ll list the equipment needed first and then describe the method.

We recommend getting all of your equipment together first before you start as this will make it easier to complete your project. There is nothing worse than being halfway through a project and then realizing you’re missing something important!

Equipment Required

• Steel stock tank ring (hollow)
• Drill
• 1 - 2 inch hole saw
• Orbital sander
• Pavers or bricks
• Fireproof stone
• Spray paint (optional)
• Safety equipment

Step One - Make Holes In The Steel Ring

Take your steel stock tank ring and drill holes around the upper edge of the ring. You will need a one to two-inch wide hole saw attachment for your drill to do this.

These holes should be around one to three inches beneath the very top of the edge and you should drill around the entire circle. The holes don’t need to be exact in how far apart they are but try to make them at two-inch intervals.

Step Two - Smooth The Holes

After making the holes, sand them down. Making holes in metal will inevitably leave several sharp and rough metal edges that can be dangerous to touch. We recommend sanding the holes to make them smoother and safer.

You should work around the holes and around the ring until they are all made smooth. We also recommend wearing eye protection for this as it is possible some metal filings will fly into your eyes.

Step Three - Paint

If you wish, you can now paint your steel stock tank ring. They naturally come in a galvanized steel finish and you can leave this plain if you wish, but we like painting our fire pits to be a solid black color. You may need to use several coats of paint to get a solid color.

We recommend using dark colors as lighter colors will show the dirt more easily. If you do decide to paint your ring, make sure that you choose a paint that is designed to survive under high temperatures. Many different types of paint will not hold up under high heat and this can cause problems.

Step Four - Place The Ring

Now that the ring is prepared, you can put it in place. Ideally, this should be on a solid, flat, and fire-resistant surface such as concrete.

We don’t recommend placing the ring on grass and suggest that you lay pavers first to give you a fire-resistant base. If you do need to install pavers, make sure that you don’t dig up any water or gas lines in the process.

Step Five - Build The Pit

The next step is to make the pit. Lay a layer of pavers (or bricks) around the exterior of the ring. The paver stones shouldn’t be pressed directly against the ring so make sure you leave a gap of around one to two inches to allow smoke to escape from the holes you drilled.

After you’ve made the ring, remove three pavers from your circle. Make sure that they’re evenly spaced around the ring.

If you don’t want to leave these big gaps, then you can instead arrange your pavers so that every stone has a couple of inches gap between them. You need to leave this space so that cold air can get into the ring.

Step Six - Continue Building The Pit Walls

With the first layer in place, you can continue building the walls of the pit. Make sure that the one to two-inch gap between the stones and the ring continues as you build up these layers. They shouldn’t touch the ring at all. Adjust the paver stones so that they overlap the lower layer.

The edges of the stones in the new layer should be placed over the center of the stones beneath. This will allow you to cover up the three holes you made in the first layer without leaving any further gaps. Keep building up the layers until they reach the upper edge of the steel tank ring.

For the final layer, we recommend using pavers that are slightly wider as this will give a neater look. Make sure that you have left the same one to two-inch gap between the lower layers and the ring and you can now cover this up with your larger stones.

Step Seven - Fireproof Stone

For the final step, fill the bottom of your new fire pit with some crushed fireproof stone. Make sure there is an even spread at the bottom of your pit. he stone will give you a great base for making smokeless fires and will allow for plenty of oxygen to get into your wood as you burn it.

Final Thoughts

It is importnat to understand

So in understanding how smokeless fire pits work, it will make more sense why you are building your fire pit by these instructions.

In this article, we gave a step-by-step guide on how to make a smokeless fire pit. We listed all of the equipment needed and then gave an in-depth tutorial on how to make the fire pit. Followed correctly, this article should help you build a safe and smokeless fire pit! e hope you enjoyed this tutorial!