A Firepit in the "Chill Out'" Area

Stephen Taylor
by Stephen Taylor
5 Materials
A continuation of my earlier post for a seating area, I decided to build a firepit, for this I needed an old kettle BBQ, and the burner from an LPG BBQ
The kettle BBQ was obtained from TradeMe for $5, and the legs removed, I also bought an old rusty BBQ (also from TradeMe) for $2, Unfortunately it was too big to get in the car in ome piece so I dismantled it at the side of the road at 0530 and kept all the bits I needed (a burner, a gas supply valve and the LPG hose and regulator)
Here are the bits I needed
First I drilled an access hole for the gas pipe, and positioned the burner to check the fit.
I then drilled the 1/2 inch copper pipe (the most expensive bit of the build at $20) and attached the control valve. I left this turned on as it will be inaccessible due to the brickwork. I also plugged the pipe end with "plastic steel".
I then bent the pipe to the correct shape, attached the flexible pipe and regulator to it, dug a hole for the BBQ,and buried the pipe in a trench after wrapping it in plastic to protect it
TEST RUN 1,


Not a complete success as gas was leaking into the hole below the BBQ and flames were coming arond the outside. This was solved by packing sand around it filling the void spaces.


TEST RUN 2


Success
I then mortared in a couple of courses of bricks to tidy it all up, and filled the gap between the BBQ andthe bricks with stone chip, this allows the burner to still draw air and give a decent flame (air is drawn in by the venturi effect of the gas for the burner expanding in the feed pipe)
Added some quartz chip to finish the garden area.
Finally tidied up the area by mortaring in some brick borders and some stepping stones I found (again on TradeMe for $12 each) shaped like seashells and ammonites, a bit of red chip around them and planted the area with all the reduced to clear (read nearly dead) plants from a Mitre10 garden centre ($31 for the lot)


Ready for beer and burnt sausages now!
The Stepping Stones
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