quote:

Originally posted by shoevb:
This is my second season with mine. My wife loves it. It's nice not to smell like smoke when you go inside. We have a neighbor with a fire pit that after we visit we have to take our clothes off in the garage and jump in the showerto get the smoke smell off.

Sounds like that might be a positive.

I had one for two years and ended up getting rid of it. It worked as advertised but you definitely have to babysit it a lot more than a fire pit and it definitely doesn't put off near the heat so you have to get quite close to it if it's cold.

Fortunately the wind comes from the same direction 100% of the time at my house so it's easy to sit up wind from the fire so you stay away from the smoke.

It is money if you have a small space with unpredictable wind.

quote:

Originally posted by JohnV:
They are making a heat deflector this year.

I have the Yukon, and it'll make you sweat. We love it, burns so efficiently and smokeless. They really are worth the hype.

I too have the Yukon. Absolutely love it. I will be checking out the heat deflector once available. Thanks!

Picked up a Bonfire before Christmas that we’ve yet to use. Thinking about building an enclosure for it to sit inside when in use so the kids don’t burn themselves.

quote:

Originally posted by 1s1k:

quote:

Originally posted by shoevb:
This is my second season with mine. My wife loves it. It's nice not to smell like smoke when you go inside. We have a neighbor with a fire pit that after we visit we have to take our clothes off in the garage and jump in the showerto get the smoke smell off.

Sounds like that might be a positive.

I had one for two years and ended up getting rid of it. It worked as advertised but you definitely have to babysit it a lot more than a fire pit and it definitely doesn't put off near the heat so you have to get quite close to it if it's cold.

Fortunately the wind comes from the same direction 100% of the time at my house so it's easy to sit up wind from the fire so you stay away from the smoke.

It is money if you have a small space with unpredictable wind.

Babysit a Solostove? You mean chuck a log in it every now and then? I’m just surprised by that comment. The thing I love most about mine is that I never have to stoke the fire. Once it’s going it stays going and I just throw a log on whenever it’s needing one.

quote:

Originally posted by SigM4:
Picked up a Bonfire before Christmas that we’ve yet to use. Thinking about building an enclosure for it to sit inside when in use so the kids don’t burn themselves.

Keep in mind that it works so well because of air flow at the bottom. If you build an enclosure you will want to make sure you don’t block the bottom vent holes somehow.

Been looking at those.

I built this for myself from a washing machine drum, and for the stand I used the base and top of an outdoor heater.



Problem is - it smokes!

So, inspired from this thread, I made a bottom grating to elevate the logs off the bottom from an oven rack.

I used bolt cutters to cut it appropriately, made it stable under weight (logs) and ran a small test fire.

Seems to have made a difference.

Will report back later after further testing.

Solostove works because it is double walled. It takes air in at the bottom and some of that air is heated in the wall. The heated air comes out at thee inside top of the fire pit. That create a secondary burn. That’s why you see clean flames coming out the top.

quote:

Originally posted by frayedends:

quote:

Originally posted by SigM4:
Picked up a Bonfire before Christmas that we’ve yet to use. Thinking about building an enclosure for it to sit inside when in use so the kids don’t burn themselves.

Keep in mind that it works so well because of air flow at the bottom. If you build an enclosure you will want to make sure you don’t block the bottom vent holes somehow.

Yeah, from what I’ve read they recommend at least 3” clearance around it to ensure air draw for the secondary combustion. I was going to build a 30” pit to fit the 19” stove. That way it’d double as a fire pit even without the Solostove in it.

One of the issues with these is the stainless steel. Yes, the stainless will last longer if you leave it outside in the weather but the chromium in the metal actually reflects the radiant heat back into the fire and less will pass through and out. I discovered this from my years in the chimney sweep industry.... say you have a free standing wood stove with single wall pipe vented to the chimney and one section is regular iron pipe and another section is 300 series stainless... the radiant heat coming off the stainless pipe will be close to half as much as the regular steel pipe.

I have the Yukon XL. I believe that it is no longer made as I only see the Yukon model listed. The thing is YUUUUGE, I love it. It's a good thing that I have an affinity for cutting firewood tho, it certainly is a hungry bitch.