DIY Smokeless Fire Pit [with a sealing strategy others missed!] 

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good video. it is also interesting to read the comments addressing possible improvements. it's great to see people actually thinking!

I have a Solo Stove and love it. I want to build something like this near our woods, and your design looks spot on. I like how you used some skinny bricks and pulled them - looks nicer than having all large blocks and removing some of them. I even have some leftover flagstones and will use them like you did. Great look.

Great help on my build! I did 6 holes in a 12" tall ring around 1 5/8" at the bottom (away from the intake holes as much as possible to get the air to start heating up) and formed my own top blocks with concrete, I think it works better than I expected.

Well done!

Looks really great

Thanks for an awesome video. Carry On Sir!

Great job 👍🏼 Your design is probably the best that I’ve seen on RU-vid to date to get the coveted secondary burn (fire fingers). You already know the basics of how to make the fire as smokeless as possible. Fire to heat the walls, fuel below the holes, and primary and secondary combustion air intake. The only thing missing is a “fire ring “ A 1 and a 1/2-2” lip, smaller than the diameter of the fire sleeve on the top of the fire pit. I’ve seen a few comments that people have suggested, be it another layer of pavers or a metal cowl or something to that effect. I 100% agree with these suggestions. It’s up to you to decide what is most aesthetically pleasing for your taste. There are videos of Solo Stoves or diy versions that show the difference between with a fire ring and without. Check it out. To those that say that it it has to be taller, I disagree. Narrower, maybe… Most of the videos I’ve seen are huge firepits and the fire is not near the wall. I’ve built four solo stove type fire pits. My favorite is the one that I use for camping. 12” bowl inside of a 13” bowl. With a 12” bowl cut down for the “fire ring “ The depth is only about 5 inches and it gets incredibly nice secondary burn 🔥 I heard you mention that you might increase the size of the secondary burn holes. I think that you’re hole size is good perhaps making more holes between the holes you have. Try a fire ring first though 😉

Hey dude! I like your vibe and how you get things done. I'm sure this is a fun little thing you do on the side, but keep it up. It's all good stuff.

The reason you see more flames burning on the Solo stove is because it is taller and narrower, so the log flames are much closer to the holes, so you see more of the secondary burn.

Thank you

The only thing I can think to improve it is trying to seal the stones and ring with concrete to increase pressure in the secondary burn. Other than that, it is really g👍👍👍

Hi. Great work up for the video. Did you try taking out more of the skinny brick to allow greater airflow? How did you decide on 4 vs more/less? Another viewer mentioned adding another layer of bricks. Not sure if that would help, but if you did, you could use the flatter, wider type to give it more of topper. You could use construction adhesive if it’s heat tolerant.

Great video thank you! Mightve missed it. Did you remove any stones other than the 4 at the bottom? What final size holes drilled at top of ring? See any issues if add a top cap? Thank you

I would like to see a comparison( USING THE SAME FIRE )having the air intake ports in the bottom bricks BLOCKED vs OPEN.

I'd suggest adding a couple more courses of stone to raise the height of the walls of the fire pit. I noticed iron kettle firepits at a beer-garden once where the top of the kettle was about 4 feet tall...this allowed the smoke to drift off at about 7 feet or so...hence, without any air features added (it was just a big iron kettle), no smoke in the face. You wouldn't have to make it 4 ft. tall, but just raising it up a foot or two (along with the air-flow features) you'd achieve the same thing...any smoke you had, would go above the heads of those seated around the fire.

You need a curled lip on top facing in like half air foil to creat that -/+ pressure

Any luck improving the “coveted” finger flames? Currently working on mine and glad I came across this video, super helpful! Thank you!

Thank you for sharing this. Quick question. Does it matter where the air gaps are placed? Bottom layer enough?

Looks good, but I was wondering how much is the gap between the ring and the blocks, also would a large gap help or hurt?

The biggest difference I have noticed between the DYI smokeless pits and the Yukon is how much air is actually beneath the wood being burned. I imagine is the Yukon fills with ash it smokes a lot more. Although of the 3 videos I have watched so far, this one really looks the best. I love the look of the slimmer blocks you used between the larger ones.

What if you put an extra layer of stone on top that went in a little bit to give the secondary combustion one more chance?

all the secondary burn holes are doing is directing smoke back to flame to then again burn maximizing usage increasing efficiency. woodstove and wood insert for home heating have been doing this for many years

The ones I used are just concrete landscaping stones. They could crack eventually from heat but I haven’t had a problem so far Thanks for watching!

Do you think it would work to add a fourth layer of pavers on top of the metal lip or would that be too unstable?

I know this might be a stupid question but where did you get your bricks from? Im having a hard time finding the spacer bricks that match blocks at lowes and home Depot

Did you do an all the surrounding yourself? Do you have a video on that as well?

How many of each of the bricks am I to purchase from Menards please. Wanting to recreate yours for my yard

You don't want the secondary burn holes to be too big because then the air will lose pressure and leak out into the fire vs being forced into it

Use JB Weld extreme heat instead of that silicone

Maybe someone could correct me if I'm wrong. My assumption before watching a couple of these videos was that the smokeless features would work if you left the ring off the bottom with holes at the top, so the smoke filled air at the top would be pulled in and recirculated to the bottom and through the fire making a more complete and less smokey burn. But the explanations show the opposite.. The air entering from the outside and in through the holes at the top, somehow reducing smoke. Which explanation is correct? and if it is the latter, how does this serve to reduce smoke?

The burnholes might be a tad big? Smaller holes might shoot air or smoke faster than bigger ones.

Hi my son just built the brick part and filled it with the stone stuff that goes in it or the special rocks that it goes with so is it still the same or its better to put that bowl on the inside?

You still get smoke no matter what you do. It just maybe a little less smoky. Save yourself a lot of work and just have openings at the bottom of the pit for better air flow and burn dry wood. If you make all these modifications remember you are going to burn up your wood at a highly accelerated rate for a minimal return on having less smoke.

One thing that all of these smokeless attempts don't seem to do is place a grate at the bottom to keep the fire from resting on the bottom. Wouldn't a grate that raises the wood up a bit help the oxygen to get under the fire to help more? Love everything you've shown here and think it's the best video I've seen and like that is shows both a gap at the bottom to feed underneath and then the ones above for the channel.

Thanks Morgan Wallen

Ive noticed if i just build a big fire it will have minimal smoke no matter the setup

Dear Guys Is there some project for this steel ring with holes? I see the diameter is around 30" right?

Great video honestly the only thing I could see that needed a bit of work was the lighting between the background and the foreground. (you’re face needs to be a tad brighter) But great delivery and everything I hope the RU-vid algorithm takes this and runs with it.👍

What bricks did you use for this? Im from the Netherlands and for the life of me, i cant find these bricks

At 19 seconds DON'T cut material that is wider than it is long on the table saw because of the increased chance of kickback. Material being thrown backwards into the person by the saw blade that binds up on the material.

I think you are going to have real challenges to beat the performance of the other smokeless units unless you downsize considerably. There is definitely a correlation between size and amount of smoke produced. either that, or build a bigger and deeper fire!

Bigger holes