The most common method of igniting a fire pit is to flick the grill lighter and turn on the gas. Whoosh! Flame. There are a couple of concerns of which you should be aware. First and foremost, there is no failsafe for a match lit gas fire pit and should always be attended. If the flame goes out gas will continue to flow through the burner. When the gas finally finds a proper ignition source, the whole neighborhood will suddenly know about a problem at your house. I recommend against using the match lit method for public use, such as hotels, spas, golf courses, etc because of liability issues. (More about electronic ignition systems, private and public use, later.)
The other concern is with larger burners. There is no problem that I am aware of lighting a 24” or smaller fire ring; but I wonder about lighting a 30” or larger burner. The 30” burner may have a 150k or 300k BTU supply. Fire rings larger than 30 inches (36, 42, and 48 inches) will certainly have 300k BTU or more gas supplies. That might make for a different WHOOSH. As explained in the very first blog entry, the larger the burner ring, the shorter the flame. That is because the gas is spread over a wider area. When the valve is opened, gas is fed to the hub and passed outward to the rim with holes in the piping along the way. What is it like to ignite that much gas from one place on the outer ring? Please let me know if you have match lit one of these larger rings. Did you reach in with a lighter or did you stand back and toss a torch? How did/do you get your fire pit lit?
Next blog – Electronic ignition systems
