Your Guide to Converting a Wood Burning Fire Pit to Gas

If you already have a wood-burning fire pit, you know how mesmerizing flickering flames on the patio can be. Everybody gathers around it, chatting late into the night, gazing up at the stars, munching gooey s’mores.

A fire pit adds a magical quality to long summer nights and extends your outdoor entertaining time into fall.

What if you could have all that fun and atmosphere with the simple flip of a switch? Maybe even click on the fire with a remote, so you don’t even have to get out of your chair?

Too late, you say? Nope.

The experts at Neave Masonry can convert your wood-burning fire pit to the ease and comfort of a gas-powered unit.

What’s involved? Let’s take a look.

How To Choose Between Natural Gas or Propane Fire Pit

Once you decide to convert your wood-burning fire pit to gas, you need to decide which power source to use — natural gas or propane?

Propane is easier and less expensive to run than natural gas. If you already have propane at your home, it’s easiest to stay with that.

Running a line for natural gas is more expensive than running a line for propane, but if that’s already your gas power source, it’s your best bet.

How Much Does Converting Your Wood Fire Pit to Gas Cost?

A typical propane line will cost between $1,000 and $1,500. An average natural gas line costs between $3,000 and $4,000.

Installation crews will need to dig trenches out to your pit for the gas lines, as well as for electricity. Why electricity? Gas-powered units have electric igniters, much like a gas stove. Expect to pay between $500 and $1,000 for the electrical.

If your wood-burning fire pit is in the middle of your patio, crews will need to tear up part of the patio to run the lines. The cost of that varies widely, depending on how much of the patio needs to be removed and what material it is.

And you’ll need a conversion kit, which includes everything you need to switch over, including the burner, igniter and pan. Kits cost from $2,500 to $3,000.

How long to accomplish all this? Between two and four days.

Benefits Of Converting Wood Burning Fire Pit To Gas Powered

Why convert your wood-burning fire pit to a gas-powered one? Lots of reasons.

No mess. No building a fire. Press a button, and presto — flickering flames. Many come with remotes, so you don’t even have to leave your chair to switch on the fire.

Gas-powered fire pits kick out less heat, so you can enjoy a fire on a warm summer night without breaking a sweat.

Gas-powered units are safer. No sparks. There’s not even smoke — the fire burns clean, fueled by natural gas or propane.

Chances are, you’ll use and enjoy your fire pit more often if all you have to do is flip a switch.

A Look At Today’s Gas Fire Pits

Today’s fire pits are stylish and elegant, made of a host of different materials and often surrounded by sitting walls and benches.

Some are so lovely, crafted of elegant granite and filled with bits of shimmering polished glass, it seems a shame to call them “pits.”

Let’s call them “fire features.”

Choose from brick, slate, tile, marble or match your fire pit to other stonework on your property.

Your gas-powered fire pit can be filled with rustic tumbled lava rock or shimmering pieces of colored glass — both a step up from charred wood.

Check Your Local Laws

If you didn’t already check your local laws about fire pits when you added your wood-burning unit, now’s the time to do it — before you invest in converting your wood fire pit to gas. Are fire pits legal in your municipality? There may be rules about fire pit size, the distance your fire needs to be from structures or requirements regarding on-site fire extinguishers.

Let Neave Convert Your Fire Pit

You may have added your wood fire pit yourself. Now’s the time to call on the experts at Neave Masonry to help you convert your wood-burning fire pit to gas. Leave digging trenches, running gas lines and installing igniters to the pros.

You don’t have a fire pit? We can fix that. We’ll design the perfect custom fire pit to match your lifestyle and your home, then professionally install it so it becomes a seamless part of your outdoor living space.

Go ahead and buy the marshmallows. We’d love to get started.

If you’re in the Hudson Valley, call us at (845) 463-0592. If you’re in Westchester County, call (914) 271-7996; from Connecticut, dial (203) 212-4800. Or, fill out our simple web form, and we’ll contact you about setting up your free consultation.