PUMP ME UP AIR patio fire place

These patio fire places are a great idea to have a nice quick relaxing camp fire outside on your patio or deck. I have found that if there is no breeze outside and the air is still its hard to keep a fire going.
I spent many nights fanning a newspaper trying to keep it going which kinda took the fun relaxing part out of it so this is a idea i came up with .

Step 1: Main pan

First i took the main pan and drilled a 5/8s hole in the center.

Comments

[Foehammer358]

Perhaps you could get an electric pump instead and find some way to silence it, that way you don't have to pump all night-- just turn it on and tada, perfect fire alllllll night long.

[coolbeansbaby68]

I thought of that to but you only have to pump it up till the air flow gets the fire going good enough...

[Foehammer358]

ah, that would make sense.. i still have to learn about physics haha. Thanks for such a quick reply.

[infernisdiem]

in middle school, the shop teacher always was rigging up a vacuum motor to our forge, man did that make blacksmithing easier lol

[Bigdawg]

You could also rig this to a rocking chair. Rock to vent the fireplace!

[coolbeansbaby68]

Hey now thats a good idea!! lol

[robertrunyon]

If, by "1 90 degree elbow", you are referencing the elbow pictured at the bottom right of this picture... That is actually a 90 degree "street" elbow. A standard elbow is female on both ends. You might want to update this so people don't buy the wrong part.

Nice 'able.

[Jon R]

I haven't had the air flow problem, yet, but I could see it might be. Great job; I'll be working on mine soon, it's round so I'll need to do it a little different. A few years ago I put a 4' pipe into a camp fire and put an electric toy inflater on the outside end... ;)

[coolbeansbaby68]

nice .How did it work??

[Jon R]

hmmm... can you say, "blast furnace?", "incinerator?"

[beehard44]

maybe using a hairdryer?

[pookie2]

awesome

[bethmwl]

I thought about something like this when I converted my gas grill to charcoal. Not enough air flow. I may use this method. Thanks.

[bustedit]

Nice idea. We have a fire pit like yours (but cheaper looking, and round) as well as a chiminea (sp?) and I find the chiminea burns much better due to its, uh, chimney. Unfortunately, you can't sit AROUND it 360 like a pit. Good solution. I also never thought my weak pit fires were due to lack of air flow, so thank you!

[macwhiz]

Ceritan Chinineas are 360 but aren't as good

[coolbeansbaby68]

your welcome and you can do the same thing . drill some 1/8 inch holes in the bottomof the fire pit .

[mightywombat]

I was thinking about something similar for grilling. Hook a series of vents up around the perimeter of the grill with tubing going to a small aquarium compressor. Add an adjustable valve and you've got the ideal way to adjust fuel-air mixture and achieve the perfectly efficient burn every time. No more cold spots! Very nicely done, sir. I approve!

[browfurd]

I'd done something similar with my charcoal grill...got a bit over-zealous and the underside of the grill began to glow cherry red!

[shuboyje]

I thought I was the only one :) . People look at me like a nut with my leaf blower hooked up to my grill.

[guy90]

*thumbs up* nice one

[Mr. Rig It]

Great idea! Almost need to run a hose from your air compressor at about 5 psi to this thing. What a great idea very cool...uhhh... I mean hot. :-)

[coolbeansbaby68]

Thank you very much . i spent night after night sitting there with that stupid newspaper fanning the thing now its kinda fun . Could have used 1/4 inch piping and smaller holes. Theres alot of volume in that 5/8s pipe so you actually have to pump it hard at first to get air threw it

[recumbentrecycler]

If you don't mind using electricity, you could connect a heat gun to the air system, but set it to cold air for better efficiency. A blower from a oil furnace would work too. Or you could use a blower like those used in superchargers. You might even be able to melt some types of metal or glass over the fire if you can get it hot enough.

[Goodluck]

Nice work! I can't tell you how many poorly designed 'fire rings' I've used which neglected the very simple fact that combustion needs air (oxygen). Almost any campground just has metal rings (sometimes old truck wheels) set down on or buried in the ground. Lack of air leads to a small, smoky fire which doesn't burn completely. My fix, grab a strong stick and dig down on the outside of the ring in 2 or 3 places. It doesn't need to be a big hole, just the diameter of the stick wide and 6 inches long. Scrap along the edge of the ring. From the inside of the ring, dig underneath it to the hole on the outside using the same scraping method. Build your fire and it will have a chimney effect, burn well and be less smoky. A lot of people above are saying "just drill holes and it will draw naturally". It will, it also might drop hot coals on your deck! If you have open holes in the bottom of your fire pit thing, make sure you use it on a non-flammable surface! You might need to clear ash away from the holes occasionally. A metal rod with 2-3 inches bent to a 90º angle at the end to poke up through the holes works pretty well.

[Rob K]

I have thought about something like that but I just use my tank get the fires started faster.

In line/ portable air tank out of a Propane Tank

[coolbeansbaby68]

very good idea but a little bulky . Im in the process of making my own camp fire patio fireplace so keep a eye out when i publish it . thanks !!

[Asmodeo]

Nice fire pit coolbeans!
I realized how much I need one of these.... =O)

Gentlemen...If You make some holes in the lowest part of the pit's walls, the fresh air will enter naturally "sucked up" by convection, as the hot air goes out at the top of the fire.
I have 2 firestarters constructed in this manner, and , sometimes, I have to obstruct some holes in order to slow down the flame!!! (sometimes couldn't even approach to the fire!!!)
I recommend to provide some kind of metal curtain to obstruct some holes and regain control over the flame

[coolbeansbaby68]

One thing i will like to say is i was also using 2 year old seasoned locus and black walnut for wood . It doesnt flame up alot but it produces alot of heat for a very long time ....so the air pump helped out alot in getting a flame for the camp fire.....................

[Thenwcp]

Just like the top portion of a Weber grill

[Asmodeo]

I think so... But the "variable air input device" is located in the low portion of the fire pit wall... A Grill has the "VAID" in the top....firepits have no top. I would try to explain how one of mi forestarters look slike... Imagine a metal water tank, almost 15 gal, cilindrical You take off the upper lid Then, with an electric tool, make a rectangular window on the bottom of the tank's wall, almost 2" height, and 10" around, saving the metal piece that falls apart. That metal piece will be drilled with 1/4" holes...say some 20 of them, and rearranged to flip open/closed on the window, with a hinge. 2" over the line of the window, you will suspend a metal grill (solder it to the tank's interior, or use bolts/nuts...Your choice here), where You'll put the charcoal/wood/burning stuff Put fire to the bottom of your "burning stuff" pile, putting some newspapers through the window and igniting them As long as the wood takes fire, close the lid and leave It breath only from the tiny holes. It gives you absolute control on the burning rate of whatever you put on the grill. When I make bbq, I use one wood batch, burning It rapidly, to use It at once. The second batch, burns slowly, as a backup if I run out of the previous batch...(backuped bbq....an interesting lateral thinking)

[PyromaniacDaniel]

I believe what you are referring to is called a charcoal chimney. often used to get coal going for grilling faster.

[Thenwcp]

Oh no, no, no I was saying you could use a sliding mechanism like on a weber grill to "throttle" air flow

[pineapplenewton]

you could get some kind of foot pump and hook it up to a rocking chair so you don't need to actually be doing much

[zvillesurfer]

You could have just learned how to build a fire... lol i still like the idea.

[OverSaltedFry]

very nice instructable to make it even better you could make it an electric pump and put a temperature sensor near the fire (with various other electronics stuff), this way if the fire gets to small it can automatically turn on the pump and make it hotter again.

[lemonie]

Does it blow ash and bits all over the place, or have you got enough control with the pumping? Looks very good L

[coolbeansbaby68]

actually you have to pump it hard cuz the pump doesnt push alot of air .next time im going to try 1/4 inch piping..

[coolbeansbaby68]

actually it works quite good . being i went with 5/8 piping and with all the holes and the length of the pipe. the cheap pump doesnt put out a hole lot of air between pumps so it kinda works out good .

[lemonie]

Good. I have blown ash all over the place with things like this...

L

[l8nite]

neat idea and nice instruc, I would have just drilled holes in the pan so the fire could breath on its own but that wouldn't have been so cool or given the potential to hook up a compressor and even a gas bottle to create really cool FLARE ups . . .