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Patio Chiminea or Fire Pit Take Your Pick
A patio chiminea is stylish decorator piece found in many a back yard. They provide an excellent way to enjoy aromatic woods and are a highly efficient way to warm a cool spring or fall evening. The variety of patio chiminea styles available today is enormous. While clay types are most common, they aren’t available in nearly as many styles as you can find in a metal patio chiminea. They're available in copper, brass, iron, and cast aluminum. Internet shoppers will find aluminum patio chimineas the least expensive to ship.
A clay patio chiminea can usually be found at hardware, home improvement, and furniture stores everywhere. The clay patio chiminea manufacturing process involves fusing two pieces, the base and the neck, together. Never pick one up by the neck alone for this reason. Clay patio chimineas also require that you place sand or pea gravel in the base to insulate it against the heat and flame. You’ll also need to place a couple of bricks in the base on top of the sand – approximately 6 inches or so apart. It serves as a crude grate for the wood to be stacked across. You’ll also want to avoid putting any type of liquid starter fluid in a clay patio chiminea. The gel starter works best. As you may have guessed, these types of patio chiminea are less expensive than those made of aluminum, brass, bronze, or other metal but do require a bit more conditioning and upkeep to use properly and safely.
A metal patio chiminea is inherently less difficult to set up due to its lack of porosity. While most are heavier they do require less maintenance than a clay patio chiminea. A metal patio chiminea is also likely to require some assembly. Some of the larger metal patio chiminea models have removable necks that reveal a cooking grill surface. Rain lids are common as well. From my perspective I would recommend a cast aluminum patio chiminea over others because they come in a remarkable number of designs and patterns, have convenient handles, and are much lighter than the other metal varieties.
Whatever your environment may consist of a nice patio chiminea will complement your back yard well. They come in a wide variety of patterns, sizes, and styles that make them an easy and impressive improvement to your patio decorum. There is an equally daunting variety of patio firepits to choose from if you're not a chiminea fan. The three along the bottom of this page are linked representatives from Yardiac's excellent collection. |