Helpful Tips for Planning a DIY Propane Fire Pit / Table

hi mike here from celestial fire glass with some quick tips for installing a liquid propane burner for your outdoor fire feature whether you're making a fire pit or fire table whether you're using a drop-in burner with pan a burner ring or a complete csa certified burner kit the underlying requirements of a propane installation are all the same first i want to emphasize that you should have your gas connections made by a qualified and licensed installer working with gas is dangerous so you want to be sure the installation is done according to local building codes and is safe to operate the purpose of this video is to give you a basic understanding of how a propane fire feature works the components needed and how everything fits together this information will hopefully be helpful as you design and build your own gas fire pit or table when designing your fire feature the most important consideration is to include adequate ventilation for any enclosed areas where gas could possibly collect keep in mind that propane is heavier than air so when planning the location of your ventilation you should locate it in the lowest portion of the enclosure think of propane as water and always leave sufficient space for it to drain out the safest design i've seen is leaving the underside of the cabinet supporting the burner open to the ground while the feet of the enclosure suspends it a few inches off the ground if you're putting your propane tank in the enclosure you can add a support in the enclosure to keep the tank off the ground propane has a much higher carbon content than natural gas this not only causes propane to be heavier it can also result in a deposit of black soot when it's burned to help the propane burn cleaner and reduce the likelihood of unsightly residue on your fire glass you need to add an air mixer to the bottom of your burner the air mixer is a piece of pipe with a venturi in the center to draw air into the gas by adding air to the gas it helps the gas burn more completely air mixers are sized according to btus so you'll want to select the correct size of air mixer to match your burner pan now for a quick primer on gas fitting standards there are two types of fittings used for gas fire features the two types cannot be connected directly together without a coupling to convert the fitting types one type of fitting used in many commercially made fire pits and barbecue grills is the flared fitting these are easy to identify because they have a flared tip this flared tip is what provides the seal for the gas since the flare tip is making the seal the only purpose of the threads is to hold the flare tightly in place in order to retain the seal since the threads aren't providing the seal you don't want to use teflon pipe tape when connecting flared fittings the other type of fitting is a tapered fitting called npt commonly known as national pipe taper which is a standard for tapered threads since npt has tapered threads the seal is provided directly by the threads that means the tighter you screw the threads in place the tighter the seal for npt fittings teflon gas tape is always required in the u.s and canada teflon gas tape is colored yellow for easy identification if you're trying to measure existing npt sizes you should know that the size is loosely based on the inside diameter of the pipe and not on the actual thread size for example the outside thread diameter for half inch npt measures just over three quarters of an inch which is the size used for most of our burners and components with outdoor fire features there are two types of burners most commonly used burner rings provide a flexible option for many fire pits such as a fire pit made with pavers or a custom fire bowl this burner ring from celestial fire glass is made from stainless steel tubing with slightly inward facing holes on the top it includes a half inch npt inlet that's reversible by moving the plug from one side to the other this way you can choose to install the burner with the holes facing either upwards or downwards with propane you always want to face the holes upward this is because propane is heavier than air and needs a little push to get it to rise through your fire glass or lava rocks the second type of burner which is the most popular and easiest to install is a drop-in burner pan drop-in burner pans are very popular with fire tables because they include the burner and a pan in one assembly this makes installation a breeze burner pans are installed by placing them into a cutout in your tabletop that's about an inch larger than the pan size this will provide an extra half inch of spacing on all sides around the drop in portion of the pan that way it can be easily placed into the cutout plus it allows for some expansion and contraction during heating and cooling drop-in burner pans are held in place by their own weight so other than dropping it in place there's no other work required to mount the burner pan the burner pan has a half inch npt male fitting on the bottom propane fire pits require gas pressure of between 7 inches water column and 11 inches water column water column commonly referred to as wc is the amount of gas pressure required to raise water in a vertical tube a given distance as a frame of reference 28 inches wc is equal to 1 psi therefore 7 inches wc is one quarter of a psi and 11 inches slightly more the pressure required for a propane burner is higher than what is used for typical barbecue grills this is because the grill only requires a small flame for cooking while fire pits have a larger flame for display and heat barbecue grills use a low pressure regulator that meets the needs of the smaller flame for a fire pit you'll need to use a high pressure propane regulator to get the desired flame height if you find that once you hook up your burner the highest the flame will go is an inch or two it's most likely because you have a low pressure barbecue grill regulator there are several types of hoses used for gas appliances this one is a standard flex hose which should be avoided standard flex hoses can cause a whistling noise due to the even spacing of the ribs along the hose length this spacing causes an oscillation effect which results in a high pitched whistling sound not what you want to hear when you're trying to relax by your fire pit this one is a whistle-free flex hose which will prevent the whistling noise by changing the rib spacing at various lengths along the hose the change in rib spacing prevents the oscillation effect that causes that sound the most common type of hose is a standard rubber gas hose these won't whistle since the inside is a smooth surface without any ribs rubber gas hoses typically come with most propane regulators and connection kits to turn the gas on and control the flame height you have two options with propane the first option is to use a high pressure adjustable regulator such as this one it's the easiest to install since it simply connects the propane tank directly to the burner the gas is controlled by the knob on the regulator located by the propane tank this is a good option if you have easy access to your propane tank to adjust the flame when connecting the regulator to the burner be sure to add the appropriate sized air mixer this propane connection kit from celestial fire glass includes the regulator key valve air mixer and hoses needed to connect your burner to a propane tank with this option the key valve is installed in the cabinet under your fire table and is used to turn the gas on and adjust the flame height no additional parts are needed to make your gas connection with this kit to light your propane fire pit i recommend using a standard stick lighter there's an option to install a spark igniter but the spark is located above the burner since propane is very heavy it may pull in your burner pan before lighting when this happens there will be a very large initial flame which can be dangerous if having a spark igniter on your propane fire pit is important to you i recommend going with a complete csa certified burner kit this complete kit meets rigorous safety standards and includes everything you need it has the pan and burner along with the propane regulator hoses flame control knob spark igniter and thermocouple the spark igniter and thermocouple are located inside this cage there's a hole directing the gas at the spark igniter which enables the flame to light as soon as the gas is turned on the thermocouple is a cool safety feature if it doesn't sense the heat of the flame it'll turn the gas off we at celestial fire glass are committed to the success of your project if you need help with determining what parts you need or how to install them or if you want to troubleshoot a problem give us a call we're happy to assist our technical support team is based in frederick maryland they're available by phone and online from 8 am to 5 pm eastern time monday through friday best of luck with your propane fire pit installation and we'll see you soon

Channel: Celestial Fire Glass

Views: 96,230

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Id: OJIsLDQBN88

Length: 11min 12sec (672 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 28 2020