How to Clean a Fire Pit, Wood or Gas

Wood Fire Pit, Step by Step

A wood pit needs the same few steps every few fires.

• Wait until the pit is cold all the way through. Ash can hold live embers long after the flames die, so a morning-after cleanout is safer than an evening one.
• Lift out the grate or log rack and set it on the ground.
• Scoop the ash with a metal shovel into a metal can with a tight-fitting lid, as one outdoor fireplace maker instructs.
• Brush the bowl and the ring with a stiff brush, and pick out nails, cans or anything that should never have gone in.
• Check the bottom for standing water and clear any drain hole that has clogged with ash.

How Often, and Where the Ash Goes

One smokeless fire pit maker recommends cleaning out the pit at least every three or four uses, because ash piling up in the bottom blocks the air the fire needs and makes it smokier. A pit that is cleaned often burns hotter and cleaner the next time.

Where the ash ends up matters as much. EPA's advice is a covered metal container stored outdoors on a non-combustible surface, and the outdoor fireplace maker adds that ash you plan to bury or spread should stay in the closed container until every cinder has thoroughly cooled. Never a paper bag, a plastic bin or the yard waste cart with warm ash in it. Pouring water on a live fire to speed things up is a last resort; one chiminea supplier says plainly not to throw water on a real fire other than in an extreme emergency.

Gas Fire Pit, Step by Step

A gas pit has no ash, but its burner pan collects dust, debris and water. With the gas off and the pit cool:

• Lift the lava rock or fire glass out of the pan by hand and set it on a tarp.
• Find the weep holes in the pan and clear any that are plugged with dust or sand.
• Rinse or replace dusty media; one maker's manual asks for lava rock 1 to 2 inches across, free of excessive dust.
• Brush soot off the ignitor hood screen and any logs with a dry bristle brush or cloth.
• Look into the burner ports for spider webs, which starve the flame.
• Put the media back loosely, never packed, no more than about an inch over the burner, and never on top of the pilot screen.

Wet Media and Why It Pops

Lava rock and fire glass can trap water. The same manual warns that wet media can crack or pop out of the fire pit when it heats quickly, a process called thermal spalling, and it recommends covering fire features when they are not in use.

After heavy rain, that maker's advice is to light the pit, step away and watch it from a distance for at least half an hour while the moisture cooks off. If any part of the pit has actually been under water, the manual says not to use it until a qualified service technician has inspected it and replaced the gas control parts that were submerged.

Jobs to Leave to a Technician

Some cleaning stops at the burner pan. That fire pit maker calls for the pit to be inspected and cleaned before its first use and at least once a year by a qualified service person, and any faulty component replaced with an approved part. Pulling the burner, cleaning the pilot assembly and checking the gas connections and the valve belong to that visit, not a weekend job.

If the flame stays weak or uneven after you have cleared the media and the weep holes, the problem is further in. That is the point to book gas fire pit repair rather than keep taking the pit apart.

Our Crew and Your Fire Pit

Gas fire pits and fire tables around Spring Hill are serviced by our experienced technicians, from a locally owned company run by a family. A free inspection comes with a written estimate before any part is replaced.

We are Proudly American and leave the patio cleaner than we found it. The Proudly American crew that visits will also show you how to clear the weep holes yourself next time.