Smoke mainly produces from the burning wood of your fire pit. Wood is one of the primary fuels for your fire pit to run. You have to buy these woods mainly from the market.
The wood you buy from the market is made of many kinds of chemicals. Wood smoke usually comes from the combustion of certain chemicals that are part of the natural makeup of hardwoods like oak, hickory, and ash and reveal some of the names of softwoods such as pine, fir, and spruce.
These chemicals that you buy alone with your firewood are the primary and most important reason behind the excessive Smoke that your fire pit produces. If you do not want to use these kinds of woods then you can go for firewood alternatives.
There are some other reasons behind the Smoke that your fire pit produces. We will point out the reasons in this article so that you can identify the root cause of the excessive smoke from your fire pit. Also, you can find the solution to this problem in this article later on.
Why Does Your Fire Pit Smoke So Much?
1. Green or improperly seasoned firewood
Greenwood or improperly seasoned wood is just like standard wood that is currently chopped. However, Greenwood or improperly seasoned firewood contains moisture. This moisture is the main reason behind the Smoke when it burns in your fire pit.
When you burn these kinds of woods that are not dried enough and contain moisture, it makes the Smoke more and more.
2. More fuel, more smoke
If you throw a lot of wood into your fire pit, it will take longer to burn, and as a result, more Smoke will form.
3. A mixed wood in your fire pit
Old and potentially damp ash, bay, and other used and unused wood that have accumulated from recent burns in your fire pits can slow down your current fire, so the fire pit will not only catch them but smoke a lot as a result.
4. Other things or fuel in your fire pit
Another reason your fire pit is smoking so much is because of all the leaves, grass clippings, pine straw, or any other debris you are throwing into your fire pit.
Sometimes you can throw some waste food, or you can drop something while cooking with your fire pit, then it can produce more smoke.
5. Airflow
Airflow is an important thing when you use your fire pit. Woods that you use as fuel in your fire pit must need to be appropriately arranged. If you do not arrange it correctly, the airflow will reduce, and the woods will not burn correctly. As a result, it makes more Smoke.
6. Household waste
Sometimes you can use some of your household waste products in your fire pit, which can be a good cause for excessive Smoke. For example, household waste like cardboard, newspaper, paper, pen, or many more things you can throw in your fire pit burns well but makes more Smoke.
Mostly you use cardboard or newspaper for your fire pit. These things make your work easy to catch fire on wood. But these kinds of things may burn well or help the wood or fuel to burn well, but they make too much Smoke.
You can see your fire pit is burning well, but the excessive Smoke comes from these kinds of household things.
9 Possible Ways To Reduce Fire Pit Smoke
There would be other causes of the smoke-related fire pit that we haven’t covered, but what we’ve covered so far represents a large part of what drives excessive smoking in most situations.
We can now go into some more details on how you can use this information to keep the Smoke from the fire pit to a minimum in the event of a fire.
The following steps and other pointers are that you can use that address a few smoke-reducing workouts that can be used with each other or in their combination.
1. Air-dried firewood as fuel of your Fire Pit
source: philsfirewoodny.com
Air-dried firewood is also known as seasoned firewood. If you chop and store your firewood, it must be hardwood or vice softwood, producing less Smoke.
Hardwood takes a much longer time to dry. It usually takes six months to years to dry appropriately. After it dried adequately, then you can use it as your fuel to your fire pit. It will burn well and produce less Smoke.
Oak, the most commonly used type of firewood (maple, hickory, ash, beech, apple, etc.), has an average moisture content at the upper end and can take six months to years to get the right amount of moisture. After becoming seasoned, it will give you less smoke burning.
Otherwise, you can buy your firewood from the market. You have to do the same as mentioned before. You have to assure the type of firewood and measure the moisture of the wood.
If you buy seasoned firewood from the market, then it would be beneficial for you. It will burn well and produce less Smoke, and it will be a value for you and your money.
2. Kiln-dried firewood as fuel of your fire pit
Kile-dried firewood is a kind of luxury firewood that you find in the market. The reverse is that it is very dry wood, which sat on a unique wooden stove for two days at a fire of 250 ° F to reach the optimum target of 20% humidity or less.
The wood of the kiln-dried is ready to burn instantly, and the amount of moisture is so low that the smoke is minimal to non-existent. Therefore, it should be light, lit, and should burn hot and long, especially compared to pure dried wood.
You have another thing to be concerned about. If you go for kiln-dried firewood, then you have to store it carefully. You have to store it indoors, which doesn’t get any touch of moisture or water. If it gets moisture or water, then it can not serve you what you want.
3. Avoid greenwood
Avoiding Greenwood on your fire can reduce smoke production. However, Greenwood is somewhat misleading, although it does not necessarily refer to the green color of the wood.
Rather green wood is any wood that has recently been cut. When wood is first cut, it usually has more moisture; Thus, its smoke increases while burning.
Internal humidity steam in the air or buy dry wood so let your wood sit and prevent the season from happening.
4. Proper airflow
Fire needs three things to burn, which are fuel, heat, and oxygen. If you can increase the oxygen flow more, then the fire will burn perfectly. So you need to arrange the woods properly in your fire pit for proper airflow.
You can arrange the woods in your fire pit with a square of wood with a tipper-like shape at the bottom and around the kindling, which we call the Lincoln log style. It allows you a good airflow, and the wood will burn well and produce less smoke.
Also, you can call it a trick to reduce the Smoke. You can also use this trick in your campfire or bonfire alone with your fire pit to reduce the Smoke.
5. Clean your fire pit regularly
Keeping your fire pit clean ensures you have a much easier time putting out the subsequent fire. Once the fire is completely extinguished and cooled, discard the fire pit in a safe place, or use a shawl or shovel to clean up the remaining coal.
Your fire pit doesn’t need to be flashing clean, but it does need to be free from the remnants of previous fires. In addition, it will help to reduce the Smoke on your fire pit.
6. Firewood that naturally smokeless
You will find some wood that naturally produces less Smoke. You will find two types of woods that produce less Smoke.
Firstly you will find some hardwood as it naturally produces less Smoke when burning. This is because these hardwoods naturally hold less moisture or water. For this reason, hardwoods produce a good amount of fire and less Smoke while burning.
Oak, ash, hickory, maple, and many more are hardwoods that produce less Smoke. Other than that eucalyptus, poplar, elm is the most famous hardwoods for the fire pit, but it produces more Smoke alone with heat and longevity.
Secondly, softwoods are known to produce more Smoke. You will easily find softwoods in your area. You have to make it seasoned to get less smoke service, as mentioned before.
7. Use charcoal method
You will need some items for this method. The items would be charcoal, a firestarter, tinder, newspapers, or other papers. You have to place the bricks in a design that produces a lot of heat. You have to create three blocks for more heat or airflow.
You have to place a newspaper or paper in the blocks and use three or four tinder pieces at the center above the newspaper. You have to form a triangular shape.
You will find some advantages to using charcoal. First, it takes less time to make a fire. Second, somewhere you will find this method is more effective than the Dakota fire pit.
This method is less expensive as well as some other methods.
Also, you can use Smokeless fire pits. This kind of pit usually produces less smoke and burns well.
8. Build a structure to reduce smoke
You can effectively reduce Smoke from your fire pit by building it properly. Build structure helps you to reduce smoke from your fire pit and it also becomes lucrative as well.
You can find some building structures of fire pit here which help you to learn and build your fire pit structure more easily and effectively.
9. Use dakota firepPit
If you use the Dakota fire pit, then it produces less Smoke. This is because the Dakota fire pit burns well and makes enough heat and less Smoke.
You need three things to make a Dakota fire pit. First, you need a shovel to dig a hole. It would help if you also had kindling and charcoal to burn it out.
You need to make a jug-shaped hole for a Dakota fire pit. This shape will help you to use long size woods to burn and good airflow. In addition, this assures a smokeless experience.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you stop your fire pit from smoking?
The way of reducing Smoke from your fire pit is mentioned above. You can find the reason and the solution to the excessive Smoke that your fire pit is producing above in the article.
Is Smoke from a fire pit terrible for you?
Smoke from your fire pit is terrible for your health and the environment as well. You would find a section above in this article about the problems that your fire pit smoke creates. You can go back and learn about the facts that this Smoke makes for you.
Can you get carbon monoxide poisoning from a fire pit?
Outdoor fire pits should only be used outdoors. Lighting an or even a closed garage or inside your home can increase your risk of carbon monoxide poisoning because gas fire pits are natural, more controlled than wood burning fire pits.
Conclusion
Let’s see what you get from this article. This article is all about the ways that you can reduce Smoke from your fire pit.
You can know why your fire pit smokes so much and what the problem is with this Smoke. You also find the solution that you can reduce your fire pit smoke.
You already know that fire smoke is harmful to you. It is harmful to your nature too. So why wait. You can take the steps mentioned above to reduce your fire pit smoke and yourself and nature.
