Propane Fire Pit & Patio Updates

A few years ago Mike gave me a fire pit for my birthday, with the intention of turning it into a propane fire pit. Our boys are asthmatic and wood smoke is irritating to both of them, so we haven't been able to really enjoy backyard fires much (even though we love them). We tend to hit our wood smoke quota between friends and neighbors, so we stopped using our wood burning one at home. The propane pit was a great idea - but we had a million other projects to do and with two little kids... the idea just sort of fell by the wayside. The fire table was covered up, shoved into the corner of the patio. We told ourselves we would use it soon. Then we didn't. I put plant pots in front of it. Then on it. It became a table.

Fast forward to now. I saw a post on Instagram for a propane fire pit using amethyst. I did some price comparison and realized that from a rock wholesaler I found, it was the same price as fire glass from amazon. And looked a heck of a lot cooler. I mentioned it to Mike and he agreed that maybe after the garden was done, we could look into finally converting the fire pit for the fall.

I decided to do it for Mike's birthday.

I did the research and the shopping to convert the fire pit. Our current setup requires a ring, the piping and gauges from the propane tank to the ring, and a mini camping propane tank. If we want to have an extended fire we can also use the tank from the grill - it's very easy to swap around. Then of course the rocks - 30 lbs of lava rock for the bottom and then 50 lbs of fire glass or amethyst for the top.

(This is 100 lbs in all these buckets, freshly washed, before laying it out to dry in the sun and completely dry out for a week to ensure there's no moisture)

NOTE: Make sure whatever rock you are using is able to withstand high temperatures such as lava rock, fire glass or igneous rock (aka formed from lava - like quartz and obsidian). Never use a soft stone or river rock that could have moisture inside of it - the rocks will explode. Exploding hot rocks is a very bad thing.

To convert the pit, we had to accommodate the tubing, so we drilled two holes in the fire pit for it to go through with one of those circle-making drill bits. One into the pit itself and one into the side to connect to the valves and tank. The tubing is secured with heavy duty silicone tape.

I found a small black storage bin with lid and drilled it into the wood base in the back. This stores half the tubing that doesn't fit under the tarp well and when we're having a fire the small camping tank can be placed in here with the lid off to keep it off the ground.

Here's the pit with the lava rock being added around the ring and tubing. We used the grate that came with the pit to help keep the ring and tubing steady.

Then the crystals on top.

And now when we light it.... amethyst on fire!

This table would also be really cool with another kind of quartz crystals or obsidian, but amethyst was the most economical at $1 per lb. And honestly I love the deep purple and the way it sparkles - it's definitely not glass. I think it looks WAY cooler.

I built a base for it out of 2x4s (with plenty of braces to support the crazy weight) and added casters to the bottom so it can roll around. I sprayed it with heat resistant bronze spray paint to match the table. Being on a caster base, this pit can be moved anywhere. The paint helps the based feel like a natural extension of the fire pit - it already had a lovely rustic feel to it and this works well all together.

I am a big fan already. There's almost no smoke, plenty of heat for chilly nights and it looks beautiful.

Once again. FIRE!