Fire pits are extremely versatile, they can be used for leisure or cooking. They can be stationary or portable. But are they just as flexible when it comes to fuel? Is wood the only thing that you can use in a fire pit, what about charcoal?
You can use charcoal in a fire pit as long as the fire pit is a wood burning type. Charcoal is wood that has been burned before in an oxygen deprived environment. If you own a gas fire pit you shouldn’t use charcoal as it will damage the fire pit.
Charcoal can be a great fuel for most fire pits but this doesn’t mean that you should use it all the time. Or that all charcoal is the same. So let’s take a look at the different types of charcoal, when you should use charcoal instead of wood and how to properly light charcoal (you would be amazed how many people do this wrong)
Table of Contents
The Different Types of Charcoal
Charcoal is basically wood that’s already been burned, pressed together in small and compact lumps that will radiate heat, but won’t catch fire, like wood would.
As you can imagine depending on the wood used the properties of the charcoal will be different.
Compressed Charcoal
The most common type of charcoal is pressed charcoal. This type is usually made out of a mixture of wood types, as well as seeds, binding agents and in some cases igniters.
This is the standard type of charcoal that you will find at most stores, and it’s an all around good charcoal. It’s good for heating, cooking, and keeping fires alive for longer.
For a fire pit this is what I would suggest you to use.
Compressed Charcoal with Smoking Wood
This is exactly the same thing, as normal pressed charcoal, the only difference is that the wood used is usually oak, hickory, maple, cherry or some other type of wood that is commonly used for smoking meat.
Normally I wouldn’t recommend you to use this type of charcoal for a fire pit, unless you also plan to use it to smoke some meat. Besides the smell and the taste that the smoke will give, there is no other real benefit. But if you are planning to smoke some meat, between the two this is the way to go.
Lump Charcoal
The last type of charcoal that we are going to discuss is the lump charcoal. This type of charcoal is made out of pure hardwood, nothing else.
This means that it will give out a lot more heat than the rest, but it will also burn faster. Another advantage of this type of charcoal is that it doesn’t contain any type of binding agent or igniters, so it’s completely chemical free.
Charcoal or Wood for a Fire Pit?
Overall charcoal is very useful, it can be used to cook food or to heat up a place, but the same thing can be said about wood. So let’s see which is more useful in different situations.
Let’s start with the main purpose of a fire pit, that of heating up an area.
Heating a Fire Pit
While both charcoal and wood can generate heat, the type of heat that they give are very different.
Wood that is on fire will burn very bright and powerful, dispersing powerful heat continuously, until the wood burns out completely, and even then there will be some hot ashes that remain which will continue to give out heat.
On the other hand the heat that comes from charcoal is not as powerful, but it’s constant and in a significantly smaller area.
So if you want to spend a night out simply talking to your friends, wood is the way to go. Charcoal simply doesn’t give out as much heat as wood in an open space.
Cooking on a Fire Pit
This one goes to charcoal.
The reason is quite simple, we don’t cook on an open flame. If you want to use wood you have to wait for it to burn up until it basically becomes charcoal. And even if we were to say that isn’t charcoal, charcoal would have still won.
Charcoal that you buy from the store lasts a lot longer than the one you get by burning wood yourself and it doesn’t take as long to start cooking.
So if you are going to cook on your fire pit you should use charcoal, it’s a lot more practical.
Smoking on a Fire Pit
Due to a lot of clever attachments it’s possible to turn your fire pit in a great smoker.
And the winner in this category is also charcoal. While a fire pit can be turned into a smoker, the base( the fire pit) will remain the same, so you won’t have a lot of access to it if you put the attachment on top. So charcoal is a better choice since it doesn’t need as much supervising as wood needs.
How to Properly Light up Charcoal
I’m not exactly sure why but I’ve seen a lot of people that have problems lighting up charcoal. Normally this should only take you a couple of minutes not 15 or 20. So I decided to add this short guide that will cover the most efficient and easiest ways to light charcoal.
Using Fluid
The simplest way to do this is by using fluid.
One very important thing to be careful about is the fluid that you use, not every liquid that ignites is good. Never use gasoline, kerosene, or other highly volatile fluids as a fire starter, they can explode.
The proper fluid that you should use is lighter fluid, it’s just as efficient as gasoline but it doesn’t have the risk of blowing up.
Another thing to keep in mind is that you should never add fluid if the charcoal is hot. So make sure that you add enough fluid from the start.
If you didn’t use enough fluid from the start, and the charcoal starter heating up but they aren’t hot enough you can use a fan to make some wind, this should heat things up.
And one last thing, use a match not a lighter, it’s much safer since your hand won’t be so close to the fire.
Charcoal with Igniter
Some types of charcoal have some kind of igniter in their composition, if you are using this type of charcoal, you simply have to strike a match and throw it over the charcoal.
Electric Charcoal Starter
A very simple and full proof method of lighting charcoal.
You simply plug the starter in, and put it over or under the charcoal, leave it there for a few minutes and you are done.
The only disadvantage I would have to say is that you need a power source, but other than that there is no other. And in the long run you will also save some money.
If you want one here is a link to the electric lighter I’ve been using in the past two years: Upgraded NutriChef Premium BBQ Grill Starter.
Charcoal Chimney Starter
Another great and simple way to light up the charcoals is to use a chimney starter.
A chimney starter is basically a big metal mug in which you place some paper and the charcoal, you light up the paper and let it sit for a few minutes until the charcoals heat up.
While this is a great method, I find the electric lighter a lot simpler, but if this method sounds more appealing to you here is a link to the Weber Rapidfire Chimney Starter, while I haven’t used this exact chimney starter, I’ve used Webber products before and they were all very qualitative.
Charcoal Fire Pit Precautions
In the end I will leave you with some safety measures that you should always follow to avoid any potential danger:
- An adult should always be present and attend the fire until it is completely extinguished.
- Keep children and pets a safe distance away.
- If the fire gets out of control, call the fire local department right away.
- Put the fire out if the wind picks up or the weather changes.
- Keep fire extinguishing materials handy. Some good options are a fire extinguisher, or a garden hose. And test the water source before lighting the fire.
- Keep any flammable and explosive materials away from the fire.
- Be careful of the wind power and direction.
- Keep a safe distance from the fire pit.
- Don’t add too much wood to the fire at once, it can fall from the pit.
- Don’t leave the fire pit unsupervised.
- When you are done extinguish the fire.
And even if this article is about charcoal and fire pits I would also like to give you a quick list of things that you are allowed to burn and things that are illegal to burn.
And here are two lists of the things that you can and can’t burn inside a fire pit, according to the law.
Things you are allowed to burn:
- Brush
- Pine needles
- Grass
- Clean wood
- Cane Grass
- Driftwood
- Forestry Debris (but not from commercial or industrial land clearing)
- Agricultural materials including fruit tree and bush prunings, raspberry stalks
Things you are not allowed to burn:
- Leaves
- Brush, trees, driftwood from commercial or industrial land clearing
- Tires
- Construction materials or demolition debris
- Household trash
- Plastics
- Shingles
- Foam
- Wire
- Metal
- Electronics
- Vinyl products
- Rubber products
- Oil-based products
- Painted, stained or treated wood
Final Thoughts
So you can use charcoal in wood burning fire pits. If you have a gas fire pit you shouldn’t fill it with coal since you could damage the fire pit.
Charcoal can be a great substitute for wood when you are cooking, or if you only want an atmospheric fire. But if you want a lot of heat you should use wood.