Propane & Gas Fire Pits
No embers, no ash, and an off switch. Ranked on published burner ratings and certification, with runtime per tank computed from the DOE energy figures rather than guessed.
Start hereIf you are here because of a burn ban or a covered patio, read what burn bans actually cover first — it is usually the deciding factor.
DisclosureWe earn a commission when you buy through the links on this page, at no extra cost to you. Prices come from Amazon and change without notice. How this site is funded.
A propane fire pit runs a stainless burner under lava rock or fire glass, fed from a 20 lb cylinder. It produces no embers and no ash, lights and extinguishes instantly, and is the fuel most likely to remain legal under a burn ban or under a covered patio. Expect roughly 7 hours per tank at 58,000 BTU/hr.
| # | Product | Best for | Key spec | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Outland LivingPhoto via Amazon Outland Living Firebowl 893 Deluxe58,000 BTU, CSA-certified, and the pit most often accepted where wood fires are not. The cover and carry kit are in the box, which is why this is the one to buy over the bare 823. | Burn bans and travel | 58,000 BTU/hr | Check price on Amazon |
| 2 | Endless SummerPhoto via Amazon Endless Summer 30 in Gas Fire Pit TableA 30 in table whose base swallows the 20 lb cylinder. That is the entire point of a fire table, and it is the reason to pay the premium over a bowl. | Hiding the tank | 30,000 BTU/hr | Check price on Amazon |
| 3 | Outland LivingPhoto via Amazon Outland Living Firebowl 883 MegaThe 893's burner in a 24 in bowl. The same 58,000 BTU spread over more area, which buys presence rather than heat. | A bigger gas flame | 58,000 BTU/hr | Check price on Amazon |
| 4 | Endless SummerPhoto via Amazon Endless Summer 30 in Fire Table, 50,000 BTUThe fire-table format at 50,000 BTU instead of 30,000. It closes most of the heat gap with a bowl, and it costs you runtime to do it. | Table format, more heat | 50,000 BTU/hr | Check price on Amazon |
| 5 | Outland LivingPhoto via Amazon Outland Living Firebowl 870 PremiumThe 19 in Outland with auto-ignition instead of a match. Worth it if you light the pit often, irrelevant if you do not. | Push-button starts | 58,000 BTU/hr | Check price on Amazon |
Prices are pulled live from Amazon. Where no live price is showing, the button reads “check price” rather than a number we cannot stand behind.
Outland Living Firebowl 893 Deluxe
Outland Living58,000 BTU, CSA-certified, and the pit most often accepted where wood fires are not. The cover and carry kit are in the box, which is why this is the one to buy over the bare 823.
58,000 BTU, CSA-certified, and the pit most often accepted where wood fires are not. The cover and carry kit are in the box, which is why this is the one to buy over the bare 823.
- CSA certification is the thing an HOA or a campground manager actually asks to see
- No embers, so it is the defensible choice under a covered patio and during most burn bans
- Shuts off instantly, which removes the entire put-it-out problem
- A 1-year warranty is the shortest in this whole registry
- A 20 lb tank has to live somewhere, and the hose length dictates where the pit can sit
- 58,000 BTU is a burner rating, not a measure of how warm you will feel
Anyone in a burn-ban county, on a covered patio, in an HOA, or towing it to a campsite.
You want the smell and the sound of a wood fire. A gas flame is not a substitute, and pretending otherwise wastes your money.
We have not burned this unit. These are the things a specification sheet cannot answer, listed rather than glossed over.
- Real-world runtime, which depends on how low you run the burner. Our figure is arithmetic at full output
- Long-run corrosion on the powder-coated bowl in coastal air
#ad how we are funded · no live price right now
Endless Summer 30 in Gas Fire Pit Table
Endless SummerA 30 in table whose base swallows the 20 lb cylinder. That is the entire point of a fire table, and it is the reason to pay the premium over a bowl.
A 30 in table whose base swallows the 20 lb cylinder. That is the entire point of a fire table, and it is the reason to pay the premium over a bowl.
- The cylinder and the control panel disappear, which is the whole design brief
- 30,000 BTU nearly doubles runtime per tank against a 58,000 BTU bowl
- The ledge around the burner is usable surface, unlike a bowl
- 30,000 BTU is genuinely less heat, not just a slower burn
- 24 in tall and heavy, so this does not travel
- Fire glass and lava rock are consumables that discolor
A patio where the pit doubles as the table and the propane tank must not be visible.
Heat is the priority. Buy BTU in a bowl instead.
We have not burned this unit. These are the things a specification sheet cannot answer, listed rather than glossed over.
- Resin mantel durability under direct sun over several seasons
- Whether the enclosed base affects tank temperature in hot weather. The listing does not say
#ad how we are funded · no live price right now
Outland Living Firebowl 883 Mega
Outland LivingThe 893's burner in a 24 in bowl. The same 58,000 BTU spread over more area, which buys presence rather than heat.
The 893's burner in a 24 in bowl. The same 58,000 BTU spread over more area, which buys presence rather than heat.
- A wider flame pattern reads much better as a backyard centerpiece
- Identical burner rating to the 19 in model, so running cost is unchanged
- Cover included
- The same BTU over more area means lower flame height, not more heat
- A larger footprint eats into patio clearance
- Heavier and more awkward to move than the 893
A fixed patio spot where the pit is the visual centerpiece.
You are buying for heat. The number that matters did not change.
We have not burned this unit. These are the things a specification sheet cannot answer, listed rather than glossed over.
- Whether the wider bowl changes perceived warmth at seated distance. Nobody publishes that
#ad how we are funded · no live price right now
Endless Summer 30 in Fire Table, 50,000 BTU
Endless SummerThe fire-table format at 50,000 BTU instead of 30,000. It closes most of the heat gap with a bowl, and it costs you runtime to do it.
The fire-table format at 50,000 BTU instead of 30,000. It closes most of the heat gap with a bowl, and it costs you runtime to do it.
- Two-thirds more output than the 30,000 BTU table
- The lid converts it to a usable table when unlit
- Cover included
- Runtime per tank drops from about 14 hours to about 9
- Heavier and less portable than a bowl
Someone who wants a table but is not willing to give up the heat to get one.
You refill tanks reluctantly. The 30,000 BTU version lasts far longer per tank.
We have not burned this unit. These are the things a specification sheet cannot answer, listed rather than glossed over.
- Long-run finish durability on the rock-like top
#ad how we are funded · no live price right now
Outland Living Firebowl 870 Premium
Outland LivingThe 19 in Outland with auto-ignition instead of a match. Worth it if you light the pit often, irrelevant if you do not.
The 19 in Outland with auto-ignition instead of a match. Worth it if you light the pit often, irrelevant if you do not.
- No lighter, and no reaching over a burner
- The same certified burner as the rest of the range
- Cover and carry kit included
- An igniter is one more thing that can fail, and it is not separately warranted
- Costs more than the 893 for a convenience feature
Households that light the pit weekly rather than monthly.
You are fine with a long lighter. The 893 is the same fire for less.
We have not burned this unit. These are the things a specification sheet cannot answer, listed rather than glossed over.
- Igniter reliability over several seasons
#ad how we are funded · no live price right now
BTU is the one number here that means something
On a wood pit, a BTU figure is close to meaningless — output depends on the wood, its moisture and how much of it is alight. On a gas pit it is a burner specification: the rate at which the appliance consumes fuel at full output, published by the manufacturer and consistent between units. That makes it the only directly comparable heat figure anywhere in this category, and it is why the propane hub can be ranked on numbers when the wood hubs cannot.
It also converts directly into running cost, which nobody in this category publishes. A 20 lb cylinder holds about 4.7 gallons of propane at 4.24 lb per gallon, and the US Department of Energy puts propane's higher heating value at 91,420 BTU per gallon. That is roughly 430,000 BTU in a full tank. Divide by the burner rating and you have burn hours.
(20 / 4.24) x 91,420 / 58,000
7.4 hours at full output
Why people actually buy these
Almost nobody chooses propane because they prefer the flame. They choose it because of a constraint. The three that come up over and over: a burn ban that prohibits open burning but exempts gas appliances, a covered patio or screened porch where embers are not survivable, and an HOA whose rules permit gas and prohibit wood. In all three cases the pit is not competing with a wood fire on experience — it is the only thing you are allowed to run.
If any of those apply to you, the certification mark matters more than the BTU rating. A CSA-listed appliance is the object you can point at when someone asks. That is why every pick on this page states its certification, and why an uncited 'safe for burn bans' claim on a listing is worth nothing. Burn bans, and what they actually exempt covers the pattern jurisdiction by jurisdiction — and the honest caveat that a total ban covers everything with a flame.
Bowl or table
A bowl is a burner and a shell; a table is a burner inside a cabinet that hides the cylinder and gives you a ledge to put a drink on. The cabinet is genuinely useful — a 20 lb tank sitting beside a pit with a hose running across the patio is the single ugliest thing about propane. But you pay for it in output. The tables here run 30,000 and 50,000 BTU against the bowls' 58,000, and the lower rating is less heat, not just a slower burn.
| Format | Typical rating | Hours per 20 lb tank | Tank hidden | Surface |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portable bowl | 58,000 BTU/hr | 7.4 | No | None |
| Fire table, standard | 30,000 BTU/hr | 14.3 | Yes | Yes |
| Fire table, high output | 50,000 BTU/hr | 8.6 | Yes | Yes |
Hours are computed from the DOE energy content at full output. The arithmetic.
- Any propane pit with no certification mark
CSA or an equivalent listing is the thing an HOA, a campground or an insurer asks to see. An uncertified burner assembly is both a safety question and an argument you will lose.
- Fire tables bought for heat
The format costs you output. A 30,000 BTU table is roughly half the burner of a 58,000 BTU bowl. Buy a table because it hides the tank and gives you a surface, not because you want to be warm.
- Anything sold as 'smokeless' because it is gas
Gas fire pits do not produce smoke because they do not burn solid fuel. That is not a feature of the product, it is a property of the fuel, and it is not a reason to pay more.
- Published burner rating in BTU/hr. This is a real, comparable, manufacturer-published number — unlike the BTU figures attached to wood pits.
- Certification. CSA or equivalent, stated on the listing. This is the specification that decides whether you can use the pit where you want to.
- Runtime per 20 lb tank, computed. We divide the tank's energy content by the burner rating. The inputs and the formula are on the propane usage page, not asserted.
- What comes in the box. A cover and a carry kit are real money. Two otherwise-identical Outland models differ mostly on this.
- What we did not do: light any of them, or measure heat at a seated distance.
We have not burned any of these units, and we do not claim to have. The full method, including what it cannot tell you.
What a gas pit will not do
It will not smell like a wood fire, it will not crackle, and it will not produce the deep radiant heat of a bed of coals. Those are real losses and no amount of lava rock changes them. If none of the constraints above applies to you and you simply want a fire, buy a wood pit or a smokeless one instead. If a constraint does apply, propane is not a compromise — it is the only option that works, and it works well.
Common questions
How much propane does a fire pit use?
Are propane fire pits allowed during a burn ban?
Can you use a propane fire pit under a covered patio?
Is 50,000 BTU enough for a fire pit?
Can a propane fire pit be converted to natural gas?
Are fire pit tables worth it?
Everything under this section
8 pages: the comparisons, the guides and the model write-ups that sit behind the picks above.
How Much Propane Does a Fire Pit Use?
Burn hours per 20 lb tank at every common BTU rating, computed from the DOE energy figures with the formula shown.
Fire Pit BTU Ratings, Explained
What a burner rating measures, what it does not, and how much output a patio actually needs.
Fire Pit vs Fire Table
What the fire-table format buys, what it costs in output, and the runtime figure that argues for it.
Propane vs Natural Gas
Plumbed line against portable cylinder, and why conversion between the two is not a DIY job.
The Best Propane Fire Pit Tables
Gas fire tables ranked on burner rating and computed runtime per 20 lb tank.
The Best Portable Propane Fire Pits
Certified portable gas bowls for campgrounds and RVs, ranked on rating and what ships with them.
Propane Tanks, Hoses and Regulators
Cylinder sizes and runtimes, the hose-length constraint, and the two-minute leak check.
Outland Living Firebowl 893 Deluxe
CSA certification, 58,000 BTU, a 1-year warranty, and 7.4 computed hours per tank.
Prices come from Amazon and change without notice. Where no live price is showing, the buttons read “check price” rather than a number we cannot stand behind. How this site is funded.