We were gifted a chiminea to use on our back patio (concrete) and I was wondering if yall had any suggestions for using it? It came with an iron base for it to sit in, but I was wondering if its a good idea to set that on some type of pavers as well instead of just resting normal on the concrete patio?

Also curious about any suggestions when burning wood in it? Wife mentioned something about filling the bottom up with some sand?

If it has feet, you'll be good on concrete. Could always raise it on some chop stone or cinder blocks.

Fill it with anything. Charcoal, wood, fireplace starters.

Might have to cut wood down to size, as that's usually the biggest hang up with these. Less room for cord cut wood.

PRO TIP: DO NOT drop a coca cola can of gasoline in the top of one of those things

Don't see how big of a flame you can get to come out the top of one. My drunk idiot friends did that and shattered his wife's new chiminea and started a grass fire. Luckily they had a fire fighting rig on the ranch and got it out out after a couple acres burned.

Dirty-8-thirty Ag said:

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Don't see how big of a flame you can get to come out the top of one. My drunk idiot friends did that and shattered his wife's new chiminea and started a grass fire. Luckily they had a fire fighting rig on the ranch and got it out out after a couple acres burned.

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couple acres??? damn



I didnt even think about filling it with charcoal. that seems like a pretty nifty easy way to get heat.

Start small and build the flame up. If it heats up too fast it will crack. I have cracked many of them in my 40 years. Jiffy pop popcorn cooked on top is always nice

I put some lava rocks in the bottom of mine. I also drilled a couple small drain holes in the bottom of mine. Used it once and it was cool. Moved and the damn chimney stack busted off the bulb. Gonna jb weld it back on when I remember where I put the jb weld, or get pissed off and buy some more.

dtkprowler said:

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PRO TIP: DO NOT drop a coca cola can of gasoline in the top of one of those things

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Good to see I'm not the only one who has done something like that. Have had some pretty tall flames shoot out of the top.

I used to burn the leaves in my backyard in mine. Came in pretty handy.

Lava rock and pinion wood

Remember when we use to get 5-inch thick phone books? If you ever want to see ash that rivals a volcano eruption, throw one of those in the chimmy.

Ragoo said:

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Lava rock and pinion wood

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This! Pinion smells so good when burning. Lowes has it for $10 or $11 a bag.

dtkprowler said:

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PRO TIP: DO NOT drop a coca cola can of gasoline in the top of one of those things

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Sound like a Robert Goddard prank from his childhood.

Lava rocks at the bottom(sand might work too). I wouldn't want the fire/coals directly touching the bottom of the chiminea.

You can also put 2-3" of ash on the bottom as a heat shield. I pulled some from my bbq pit before the first burn.

We use to unwrap beer cases then curl them into tube then drop in from the top. You'd get 3-4 ft flames coming out the top for a few minutes. If the wind blew in the bottom just right it sounded like a jet engine. Still surprised we never burned down the trailer park

RCR06 said:

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Lava rocks at the bottom(sand might work too). I wouldn't want the fire/coals directly touching the bottom of the chiminea.

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I did not know this. every chiminea I've had cracks quick. I knew there was some operator error on my part, either too big of fires or this.

dtkprowler said:

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PRO TIP: DO NOT drop a coca cola can of gasoline in the top of one of those things

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Or a big blob of mixed but uneaten masa tamale dough.

If it's a decorative pottery type chiminea, keep any fire small. They will crack easily. There are some made for harder use, namely metal ones.