Do Fire Pits Keep Mosquitoes Away?
Wood smoke does push mosquitoes back, a little, in the air it occupies. That is a much smaller claim than the one this question usually expects, and it has an awkward consequence for anyone shopping for a smokeless pit.
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Not reliably. Wood smoke does discourage mosquitoes in the air it actually occupies, but a fire pit is not a mosquito control device and should not be bought as one. The important consequence for a buyer: if bug deterrence is your reason for shopping, do not buy a smokeless fire pit — its whole design is to burn the smoke off before it leaves the chamber, so it delivers least of the only mechanism a fire has. A plain wood pit like the Gas One 23 in makes the smoke; a Skeeterlog burned in it is the one product here that works through the fire rather than beside it; and if you want something with a published burn time to place upwind, the Murphy's Naturals citronella sticks state 2-plus hours.
What the smoke actually does
The mechanism is not mysterious and it is not magic. Smoke interferes with the cues a mosquito uses to find you — the plume of carbon dioxide you exhale, your body heat, your skin odour. Sitting inside a column of smoke makes you harder to locate. Sitting three feet to the side of it does not.
That is the honest shape of the effect: local, directional and partial. It applies to the seat the smoke is blowing over, which is also the seat nobody wants to sit in. Everyone has experienced both halves of this — the smoke follows you, and the bugs are worse once you move out of it.
The smokeless problem
This is the part worth knowing before you spend several hundred dollars. A smokeless fire pit works by drawing air up through a double wall, heating it, and injecting it back over the fire so that the volatiles which would have left as visible smoke are burned instead. We go through the mechanism in detail on do smokeless fire pits actually work.
It is a genuinely good piece of engineering and the reason the category exists. It is also, for this specific purpose, exactly the wrong purchase. A pit that successfully removes its own smoke has removed the only thing a fire was doing about mosquitoes. Nobody selling smokeless pits mentions this, and it is not a criticism of the product — it is a mismatch between what the pit is for and what some buyers are hoping it will do.
| Pit type | Smoke produced | Effect on mosquitoes |
|---|---|---|
| Open wood pit | The most | Whatever smoke does, you get the most of it |
| Smokeless wood pit | Deliberately minimized | Least of the three — the design removes the mechanism |
| Propane or gas | Effectively none | None. A gas flame produces heat and light and almost no particulate |
If you want the pit and the deterrent, that points at an open wood pit — which has its own trade-offs in smell, ash and eye irritation. Smokeless vs regular is the fuller comparison.
Citronella, and what EPA registration actually means
The products people reach for next are citronella candles, coils and incense sticks. Here the evidence picture is clearer than it looks, because the EPA draws an explicit line.
So the citronella sticks below are not fraudulent and they are not evidence-backed. They are legal, exempt, unreviewed products that smolder and smell of citronella. We have included the two that publish a burn time, because in a category with no efficacy data, a maker who will at least tell you how long one lasts is being more useful than one who will not.
If protection rather than ambience is the goal, the EPA's own position is that a registration number means the manufacturer supplied technical data on both safety and performance against mosquitoes. Nothing on this page carries one.
How we judged these
- We separated the question from the marketing. The claim 'fire pits repel mosquitoes' is everywhere and sourced almost nowhere, so the test applied here is what a regulator or a published figure actually supports.
- EPA registration is treated as the dividing line. A registered repellent has had efficacy data reviewed. An exempt plant-oil product has not. Both are on this page and both are labeled.
- Products are ranked on what their listings publish — burn time, oil blend, coverage — because in a category this short on evidence, a maker who publishes a number is telling you more than one who publishes an adjective.
- What we did not do: count bites, run a trial, or test any product. Nobody should take a bite-reduction figure from a fire pit site, including this one.
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 to buy, by what you are actually trying to do
| # | Product | Best for | Key spec | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Skeeterlog Mosquito Repellent Logs, Pack of 3A log infused with essential oils that you burn in the fire itself, which makes it the only deterrent here that uses the pit rather than sitting beside it. The listing claims non-toxic and extended use and publishes no concentration or coverage figure. | The one that goes in the pit | Compressed log with essential oils | $24.99 · View on Amazon |
| 2 |  Murphy's Naturals Citronella Incense Sticks, 24 CountBamboo-core sticks with a published 2-plus hour burn and a named oil blend. The burn time is the figure that lets you work out how many an evening costs, and almost nothing else in this category publishes one. | A published burn time | Bamboo-core incense stick | $19.99 · View on Amazon |
| 3 |  KICKOUTOR Citronella Incense Sticks, 120 CountA hundred and twenty sticks with a published one-hour burn. Shorter sticks, five times as many, a fraction of the price per stick — the trade is that you are lighting a new one every hour. | Burning them every night without thinking about it | Incense stick, citronella oil | $11.99 · View on Amazon |
| 4 |  Gas One 23 in Alloy Steel Wood-Burning Fire PitA 23 in alloy-steel bowl at the bottom of the market. It is the cheapest verified wood pit on this site, and the price is the whole argument. | The lowest honest entry price | Alloy steel | $39.99 · View 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.
Skeeterlog Mosquito Repellent Logs, Pack of 3
RediFlameA log infused with essential oils that you burn in the fire itself, which makes it the only deterrent here that uses the pit rather than sitting beside it. The listing claims non-toxic and extended use and publishes no concentration or coverage figure.
A log infused with essential oils that you burn in the fire itself, which makes it the only deterrent here that uses the pit rather than sitting beside it. The listing claims non-toxic and extended use and publishes no concentration or coverage figure.
- Uses the fire you have already lit instead of adding a second burning object to the patio
- No candles or coils to place around the seating area
- Travel-friendly, so it works at a campsite as well as at home
- No coverage area and no burn time published, so you cannot work out how many you need
- No active ingredient concentration, which is the figure the EPA-registered repellents do publish
- Three logs is not many if you burn most evenings
A wood fire pit where you would rather not ring the patio with citronella candles.
Your pit is propane or smokeless. There is nothing to burn it in, and in a smokeless pit the smoke it depends on is exactly what the pit removes.
We have not burned this unit. These are the things a specification sheet cannot answer, listed rather than glossed over.
- Burn time per log and the area it actually covers
- What the essential oil blend is and at what concentration
- Whether it does anything a normal wood fire does not
#ad how we are funded · price as of October 18, 2026
Murphy's Naturals Citronella Incense Sticks, 24 Count
Murphy's NaturalsBamboo-core sticks with a published 2-plus hour burn and a named oil blend. The burn time is the figure that lets you work out how many an evening costs, and almost nothing else in this category publishes one.
Bamboo-core sticks with a published 2-plus hour burn and a named oil blend. The burn time is the figure that lets you work out how many an evening costs, and almost nothing else in this category publishes one.
- A published burn time, which makes the per-evening cost calculable
- Names the whole oil blend rather than saying essential oils
- Sticks can be placed upwind of the seating area, where the fire cannot be moved
- No coverage area, so how many sticks an evening needs is trial and error
- Plant-oil repellents are not EPA-registered the way DEET or picaridin products are
- More than twice the price per stick of the bulk alternative
A patio where the fire pit is fixed and the bugs come from one direction.
You want a documented efficacy claim. No citronella product here carries one.
We have not burned this unit. These are the things a specification sheet cannot answer, listed rather than glossed over.
- Effective radius
- How much of the effect is repellent and how much is simply smoke
#ad how we are funded · price as of October 18, 2026
KICKOUTOR Citronella Incense Sticks, 120 Count
KICKOUTORA hundred and twenty sticks with a published one-hour burn. Shorter sticks, five times as many, a fraction of the price per stick — the trade is that you are lighting a new one every hour.
A hundred and twenty sticks with a published one-hour burn. Shorter sticks, five times as many, a fraction of the price per stick — the trade is that you are lighting a new one every hour.
- By far the lowest cost per stick, which matters if you light several at once
- Publishes a burn time, unlike most of the category
- 120 sticks lasts a season of regular evenings
- One hour means relighting partway through most evenings
- The listing's own wording is help deter, which is a weaker claim than it first reads
- No coverage area and no oil concentration
Anyone who sits out most evenings through mosquito season.
You want to light one stick and forget it. Buy the 2-hour sticks.
We have not burned this unit. These are the things a specification sheet cannot answer, listed rather than glossed over.
- Effective radius
- Citronella oil concentration
#ad how we are funded · price as of October 18, 2026
Gas One 23 in Alloy Steel Wood-Burning Fire Pit
Gas OneA 23 in alloy-steel bowl at the bottom of the market. It is the cheapest verified wood pit on this site, and the price is the whole argument.
A 23 in alloy-steel bowl at the bottom of the market. It is the cheapest verified wood pit on this site, and the price is the whole argument.
- Cheaper than most spark screens, which reframes what a first fire pit has to cost
- 23 in is a usable diameter rather than a token one
- Alloy steel is at least stated, which the very cheapest listings often will not do
- No screen, poker or grate stated — budget for a screen separately if your rules need one
- No stated gauge, so wall thickness is unknown and thin steel is how cheap pits die
- Stock has been running low, so availability is less dependable than the established brands
A first fire pit, a rental, or anywhere you are not sure you will still want one next year.
You want something that still looks right in five years. At this price that is not the deal.
We have not burned this unit. These are the things a specification sheet cannot answer, listed rather than glossed over.
- Steel gauge and finish, both unpublished
- How many seasons the bowl survives, with no warranty stated to fall back on
#ad how we are funded · price as of October 18, 2026
The four things that work better than any of this
- 1An EPA-registered repellent on skin. It is the only thing on or near this page whose effectiveness a regulator has reviewed.
- 2Emptying standing water. A saucer under a plant pot breeds mosquitoes. Gutters, bins, tarps and birdbaths all do. This costs nothing and removes the supply rather than managing the symptom.
- 3A fan. Mosquitoes are weak fliers and a moving-air seating area is genuinely unpleasant for them. An outdoor fan does more than a candle and does not need relighting.
- 4Long sleeves at dusk. Unglamorous, free, and the reason nobody sells it to you.
A note on pine needles
The specific folk remedy — throwing pine needles or sage on the fire — is a smoke-density trick rather than a chemical one. It makes a lot of smoke quickly. It also makes the fire sooty and sparky, and pine behaves badly in a fire pit for reasons that have nothing to do with insects. If the plan is more smoke, more smoke is what you get, along with everything else that comes with it.
What we would skip
- Buying a smokeless fire pit for mosquito control
A smokeless pit's entire design goal is burning the smoke before it leaves the chamber. Whatever deterrent effect smoke has, that is the pit engineered to deliver least of it. If bugs are the reason you are shopping, this is the category to walk past.
- Treating any of this as protection from mosquito-borne disease
Smoke and plant-oil products are comfort measures. Where mosquito-borne illness is a real local concern, the answer is an EPA-registered repellent on skin and clothing, which is a different product category from anything on this page.
- Burning green wood or yard waste to make more smoke on purpose
It works, in the sense that it produces smoke. It also produces the fine particulate the EPA warns about, it smells, it is unpleasant to sit in, and in many jurisdictions burning yard waste is a separate regulated activity from a recreational fire.
- A citronella candle on the table as your whole plan
The published work on this is weak and the effect sizes are small. Nothing here is a reason to sit in a mosquito-heavy yard without a repellent.
Common questions
Do fire pits keep mosquitoes away?
Do smokeless fire pits keep mosquitoes away?
Do propane fire pits repel mosquitoes?
Do citronella candles and incense sticks work?
Does burning pine needles repel mosquitoes?
What actually works against mosquitoes in a backyard?
- 1.US EPA — Skin-Applied Repellent Ingredients: the registered active ingredients and product counts, and the note that citronella is 'also used in unregistered products that meet the requirements for exemption from registration'
- 2.US EPA — Find the Repellent that is Right for You: a registration number means the manufacturer 'provided EPA with technical information on the safety of the product and its effectiveness against mosquitoes and/or ticks'