Are fire pits allowed?
 

Are fire pits allowed? We have an outdoor patio and would like to get a fire pit to enjoy on these cool evenings. Can you use real wood or do you have to use the Dura Flame fireplace logs?
For those of you that have a fire pit, do you use it a lot and would it be worth it to get one?
Thanks!

We have a fire pit. Used it once and a strong wind came along. Ashes flew everywhere, thought I was going to burn down our whole village. Haven't used it since.

Don't think burning wood would be to wise, the other comment about fire hazard mine would be how close you are to your neighbors, not everyone likes smelling wood smoke when they're house is 15-20 feet away.

We have a propane fire pit and use it a lot. No fuss no muss. 54,000 btu and a twenty pound tank is good for about 15 hours.

Not a great idea
 

The houses here are too close. To most folks a campfire just stinks and would not be appreciated not to mention the fire hazard. Propane pits are common here and burn clean. If you want an outdoor fire that is probably the answer.

check out your neighbors gas fire pit lol

your other neighbor

Have one, live on a corner lot and burn dura flame. Clean and is so nice on a cool winter night. Neighbors seem to enjoy sitting around it as well. No stick in the muds here...

What do you mean by stick in the muds?

Really??

I agree with the point about too close together for a real fire because of the smoke but I really don't think most people think a campfire stinks.
Propane would be the easiest to control and when your done, you just turn it off.

I love the smell of a nice campfire.
EB

Please consider your neighbors. I would not want a wood fire near my home. It does smell and many people have breathing difficulties from smoke. Please save the campfires for camping. Oh and be sure to keep any type of fire far away from the vinyl homes.

Absolutely, buy a fire pit. As you know many evenings can be spent laughing with family and friends watching the glow of burning flames, whether it be real wood or not.

O.W. Lee Recommended
 

From another former Michigander...

We have a propane firepit made by O.W. Lee in California. It is a gorgeous thing and we use it often on these cool nights. One tank of propane will last 8-9 hours. Their design provides a choice of either rocks or ceramic logs, both of which look very realistic. You will see gas firepits in lots of stores, but the ones by O.W. Lee seem to prove the adage "you get what you pay for". We have a 54-inch round one with a lazy susan. In the summer, you simply remove the rocks and place the lazy susan where the fire goes in cooler weather, very handy for lanai entertaining.

Here's their website.... http://www.owlee.com/casual-fireside.aspx

I agree.. to me an outdoor wood burning fire STINKS; and I would not enjoy a neighbor's smoke coming into my home. My wife is a sliver girl scout and when she comes home from the campsite she stinks of smoke.
As a former cigarette smoker I never knew I stunk until I quit.
Please be considerate of others. Sorry if I'm a stick-in-the-mud.

Those are really nice Kahuna. What kind of price range are we talking there?

Recommend you buy electric fire pit. Burning wood with the winds, only asks for trouble, especially on patio, close to house.

We are actually putting in a firepit in the very near future when we finish our landscaping and these comments are interesting. We hadn't decided about wood versus gas as of yet. How do/would some of you react to someone with a firplace in the home with smoke coming from the chimney? I know several folks that have these and personally love the smell. I see chimineas(sp?) all over the place also.

Love the smell of burning fireplace wood.

Have a gas pit from Lowes 200 dollars love it great alternative to watching television and agreed no mess cook marshmallows on it and hot dogs its fun

jbdlfan, and anyone else considering and using a fire pit in The Villages; I think fire pits are very nice but please consider the idea that Villages Kahuna and several others have suggested. You will be able to enjoy the ambiance of that fire and eliminate the hazards of ashes and smoke blowing about a very populated area. You would also avoid the problems wood smoke would cause to neighbors who might enjoy a window or two open in their home on a cool evening. Thoughtfulness for our neighbors is so important and these are also great solutions that have been presented.

When we lived on our 20 acres in Wisconsin, we had a beautiful Vermont, sand-colored enamel wood stove with which we heated our home all winter long. We were approximately 1/2 mile from the closest neighbor. During the winter in Wisconsin, windows are closed so no one was directly effected by wood smoke.

The only problem that arose from this situation is that now I have a wood/leaf smoke allergy that makes me miserable when I encounter this type of smoke. I am unable to breathe through my nose at all and my chest feels constricted and inhaling air feels difficult if I inhale this smoke. I grew up in the country and, of course, ran into smoke here and there all my life. I never thought I'd develop this later in life allergy but it's the pits!

What we didn't realize either while burning our beautiful wood stove was the amount of fine particulates and air pollution being created, something else to help you make your decision.

Our still unsold house in MD had wood burning fireplace as did most all. Loved smell of the wood burning. Many trees give off fragrant smells.

For me this is the way to go

We have always used Duraflame logs in our wood-burning fireplace here in Tampa.
But I'm with most posters - would be worried about a firepit
being closer to our neighbors here.

Please save the outdoor fires for special vacation memories. I can't imagine how awful it would be here with our closely spaced houses and older lungs. Why start trouble when there are so many other interesting things to do. It's bad enough that the gaudy outdoor "lawn decorations" are getting out of hand in some areas. Before you know it, there will be more restrictions, quickly followed by formal complaints about the violations, etc. --- Use some common sense, please.