How do I fuel my Blue Sky fire pit?
Fire pit season is in full swing, and it’s time to start hosting gatherings with your new Blue Sky smokeless fire pit. You’ve waited all year for this! But you have some questions: Hardwood or pellets? Can I use both? How should I stack my firewood? If you asked yourself any of these questions, no need to worry! We have all the answers you need to get your fire ready for the nights ahead.
Stock up on hardwood
Make sure you have hardwood at the ready — you’re going to need it to start your fire and refuel the flame throughout the night.
For firewood, our number one tip is to use well-seasoned hardwood, as they burn more slowly and efficiently. Using well-seasoned hardwood also helps eliminate the smoke and ensure your fire pit remains smokeless. To ensure your fire pit does not produce a smokey burn, you should not use softwoods. Nor should you use painted or treated wood — this can be dangerous.
Purchase Hardwood Pellets
Hardwood pellets are also going to be a helpful necessity to get your fire started.
We recommend filling your fire pit 2” deep with wood pellets. Make sure they cover the span of your fire pit, including near the edges. Also, if you have hardwood, our fire pits are dual-fueled, so you can burn wood pellets and hardwood together.
With the pellets, the fire pit will get hot enough for flames to start after an estimated 10-15 minutes. The pellets will continue to burn for 25-35 minutes before you’ll have to add more to the fire.
Blue Sky sells Premium Hardwood Pellets, or they’re sold at a variety of local retailers, such as Menards, Walmart, Lowe’s and more.
Stacking matters
How should you stack the wood? There’s a couple of factors to consider.
Once you have 2” of hardwood pellets on the bottom of your fire pit, you can start stacking your firewood. Your firewood should be set on top of the pellets and close to the edge in a stacking structure. Just a reminder: the stacking structure used is determined by your fire pit’s burn chamber shape. The firewood should be below the top row of the air holes of your firepit. Each fire pit can accommodate more hardwood than others. For fire pits like The Ridge and The Pike, we recommend using firewood pieces, as the size is not able to hold standard size logs.
A few stacking structures include teepee, lean-to or log cabin shape. While the Square Mammoth, Improved Mammoth, Rectangle Peak and Square Peak can accommodate various stacking structures, as the widths of the fire pits allow for more space, the Improved Peak has a different width, that won’t allow standard firewood to extend the length, so techniques like the teepee is useful. Get creative and see the different ways you can stack your firewood.
Additionally, firestarters are also recommended to get the fire started faster and stronger!
Fueling your Patio or Portable Fire Pit
Depending on which fire pit you own, there are different recommendations for getting the fire roaring. It’s also all about preference!
- Patio: Pellets and firewood together make for a great combination for the patio fire pits. They are also able to use more firewood, such as the Square Mammoth, which can hold 10-12 standard length logs, and the Rectangle Peak, which can hold more standard fire logs than the Improved Peak.
- Portable: Using pellets alone is enough to start your portable fire pit. If you feel inclined, wood chunks can also be used in combination to really get it started.
Throughout the night, to keep your fire pit fueled, continue to add pellets or logs.
Before long, your fire will be ready to gather around. Invite your friends over and enjoy a relaxing summer night. Learn more about each fire pit and choose the one perfect for you by visiting our website.
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