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Hi there,

not strictly a camping question but I thought you guys may know the answer.  My wife recently purchased two nice round fire pits for our garden for when we have get togethers, which is very often.  We used them for the first time at the weekend and we put wood on them that a friend had given us.  We had a four foot bag of logs and they went through that in two hours much to my suprise.  I wondered what other ways there are of heating the patio with them.  My next attempt will be with BBQ coals to see how that works, hopefully it will last longer and burn slower.  My brother tells me that I should be using Anthracite as it gets really hot and burns slow.  Any opinions on this?

It's surprising how much wood a fire needs, and two fires would need a lot. I agree that some charcoal or briquettes would make your firewood last longer. If you have a source of small quantities of coal then yes, you can use that.

If it's the expense of having to buy large amounts of fuel, consider "free" sources like scrap wood from skips, broken pallets and any dry fallen wood you may come across. Pine cones are a great way of getting a nice smell though they do burn fast. It's not a gret idea to use scented oil or candles in a fire because they cause a lot of flaring. One other idea is to get a device that makes "briquettes" out of newspaper.

Remember also that you've got to dispose of the ash after. You can put wood or paper ash in the compost bin or use it in the garden but you can't do this with BBQ ash or coal ash, and I'd be wary about using ash with citronella on the garden either! In one other discussion on fires someone pointed out that treated pallets or MDF offcuts release possibly toxic fumes when burned so these are best avoided.