Natural gas fire pits have some clear advantages:

• Instant fire

• No sparks

• Instant off

• No smoke

Yes, done right, gas fire pits are awesome. A key component is the burner itself. A gas line is run from your meter, into the fire pit, and then connected to the burner. The shape and size of the burner largely determine the size and shape of your fire.

Until recently most burners were basically the same, something like this. They do a fine job of producing a nice flame. But now there is a new kind of burner, made by Crossfire. You can see the difference here.

So what makes the Crossfire burner special? It is all brass, which means it will last a very long time. Instead of just having holes for gas to escape through it has nozzles. The combination of the nozzles and the way the burner mixes oxygen with gas produces a large attractive flame. With a decent sized gas line you can have a truly “roaring” gas fire.

I would install them on every fire pit if I could… but I can’t.

You get what you pay for, and Crossfire burners are expensive. Between the burner, the required burner plate, changes to the way the fire pit gets built, and a larger gas line, they can add $4K to the cost of a fire pit. Ouch.

So, are they worth it? This client thought so: