Solo Stove Hates Me For Showing You This!

How to build a DIY smokeless fire pit just like a solo stove. Stop the smoke in your backyard fire pit with these tips.

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Build a DIY smokeless fire pit in your backyard to get a massive smoke reduction in your fire pit. This is a great upgrade for any diy fire pit!

[SmokinOak]

I like the fact that he didn't edit out the mistakes he made and what didn't work in order to demonstrate how the various changes effect the outcomes. Great video!

[Icedel]

I appreciate you doing all of the homework and expenses. Saving me time and money. I'm a single dad, and I enjoy doing little things like this with my daughter to show her love. Burning firewood and hugging my little one is so great. Every dollar counts, so thanks again.

[DhavalPateldp]

Just had to say one of the best integration of a sponsor and not taking the whole frame of the video and giving us continued progress of the project at the same time! 👏👏👏

[JCWren]

“Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.” -- Terry Pratchett, from Jingo.

[Rocking_J_Studio]

I'm thinking the only thing you could have done that would improve the performance of your fire pit is more depth. The Solo stoves are much smaller in diameter than your fire pit and they are taller in height. That gives much more space for the air to really heat up as it rises from the bottom to the top of the air channel. Great video! I know I learned a lot by watching it.

[hollowillow]

Came for the DIY ideas, stayed for the experimenting! It was so entertaining to watch all of the thought process going behind it

[KiltedSatyr]

0:27 fun fact! (Assuming you don't say it later) the reason smoke seems to always be blowing into your face is because of convection. With nothing obstructing the air's movement toward the fire(and no wind) the smoke will rise straight up. BUT! since there is often a person or group of people somewhat clumped together around the fire, the air that would come from behind them is slowed meaning the air on the other side of the fire that isn't slowed will assert more force bending the convection current and thus the smoke towards the people blocking the air. Of course with the wind blowing the smoke will follow the wind but still be affect by the convection

[annburge]

Really liked your pit design. There is another way to have a less smokey fire. You don't construct a tipi. Instead you pack in tightly the logs at the bottom. You add smaller pieces and at the top you construct the twig, pinecone, dried orange peel pile. One lights the top, not the bottom. The fire burns gradually downwards but having the fire at the top means it burns the gases coming out of the gradually heated logs. Much less smoke and significantly more heat.

[jpsmith]

I really appreciate the “I’m not going to give up no matter how long it takes” attitude in this video.😂

[adam_loooong]

Brad, your relentlessness toward seeing a job through to the and and your relentlessness in maintaining a great attitude is one of the most inspiring things about you and this channel. It is easy to see it is not a show for the video - it is authentically you. Thank you for all you do and the videos you make - this is truly one of my favorite channels in the maker space. Keep up the great work man!

[robertmosier]

Tip for calculating the airflow: Measure your 4 gaps in the bricks. That's the surface area of the inflow. Ideally the outflow should be similar in size to the inflow, or slightly larger. Number of holes * pi * diameter is the surface area of the exhaust. Compare the two numbers and then adjust the hole size (or number of holes) until the inflow area matches the outflow.

[ChrisFuhrman-dfiz]

Loved this, I have a Solo fire and it does smoke to begin with even with dry logs. You also get a better secondary burn with a full fire across the width (rather than a tall fire) as the air passing along the side to come up through the holes is heated more... Great job!

[barrywise]

Dang dude, you put so much work into this video. Thanks for satisfying everyone’s curiosity

[scottvriethoff]

Wow! I have zero intentions of doing this to my fire pit. I don’t even know how this video found me. But, I certainly appreciate the amount of time, money, and work you put into this video. You’ve earned a like. Great job 👏

[LRNDIY]

Super fun project, Brad - had me glued to the screen start to finish! I hadn’t really heard of smokeless fire pits unless they were propane or gas fed so that was pretty rad. Great video!

[AustinLWright]

Great video. But having owned several Solo Stoves, the most important factor in the intensity of smoke is the dryness of the wood.

[Dwe]

The amount of work, time and investigation you went through to figure out how to exactly create the closest thing to a smokeless fire pit was pretty impressive to me. You went beyond my expectations and I appreciate the days it took to film this and do all the drilling, experiments & etc. I’m subscribing for more of your videos. Your thoroughness in figuring out the perfect method will save me so much time and error.

[johnsmithfakename]

There is one detail about fire pits that people keep forgetting.
If the fuel (firewood) is higher than the secondary holes, the secondary burn will become a primary burn for said wood and thus produce smoke.

If you want to keep your current system then do not build the fire higher than the secondary holes (maybe an inch shorter).
If you are going to mod the system, add a 4th layer of stones and keep the firewood below the holes.

[bumboclat]

What you tried to build is a gasifier stove. However, that design relies on two things: small enough diameter to heat up the walls, making the secondary air rise up by draft, and small enough diameter to deliver that air into the flames. It's not really well suited for a large but flat firepit, but kinda works if you make the fire crazy big, as seen.

[layadhaya]

This guy is brilliant! How beautifully he explained the various tests he conducted! He was so determined to achieve the objective of building a smokeless fire pit, and he finally met the objective!