Wood Fire Pit to Gas: Use Your Pit All Year

A wood fire pit in Maricopa County's Area A sits legally idle five months a year. The county's Burning Activities page prohibits recreational fires, wood-burning chimineas and outdoor pits from May 1 through September 30, and Ordinance P-26 bans fire pits again on any declared No Burn Day. The minimum fine for an illegal outdoor fire under Rule 314 is $200. Gas pits fall under neither rule, so converting is how you keep the pit you already have and use it whenever the evening is pleasant.

Most block or stone pits convert well. The job is a burner pan or insert sized to the bowl, a burner, a valve or electronic ignition, media to cover it, and a gas supply, either a line from the house or a propane tank. The pit also has to breathe and drain, which wood pits were often never built to do.

Signs you need this

• You own a wood pit you can't use all summer
• Ash, smoke and smell drift into the house or toward neighbors
• Gas already reaches the patio for a grill or heater
• You want a fire you can start and stop with a key or switch
• The HOA has raised smoke or wood storage with you

How we do it

1. Site visit and quoteFree: we measure the bowl, find the nearest gas, check drainage and air openings, and write a price.
2. The paperwork sideWe check what your city requires for the gas line, and you check your HOA's guidelines.
3. Gas and burnerLine run or tank space prepared, burner pan fitted, valve or ignition installed, air and drain openings added.
4. Media and burnLava rock or fire glass laid at the right depth, then a burn test with flame and fittings checked.

What converting a wood pit to gas costs

There are two parts to the price. Bringing gas to the pit is the bigger variable: HomeGuide's 2026 gas line guide puts extending an existing line at $350 to $2,000, depending on distance, trenching and what the line crosses on the way. The burner pan, burner and ignition are priced at the site visit, because pits run from a small round bowl to a long trough built into a seat wall.

A propane tank in a ventilated enclosure beside the pit avoids the line entirely. It is the usual choice in Apache Junction, where propane heat is more common than anywhere else in our area, and on larger lots far from the meter.

If you would rather replace the wood pit with a ready-made propane one, Maricopa County's Campaigns and Programs page lists up to $75 toward buying a propane fire pit. The page doesn't say whether it is still funded, so check whether it's still offered before counting on it.

Permits and HOA rules

The City of Phoenix lists gas line repairs, replacement or new installation for exterior gas appliances as permit work. In unincorporated Maricopa County, a new gas line to a fire pit is on the county's fast-track residential permit list. Other cities set their own process, and we check what yours requires before any line goes in.

Many master-planned communities have CC&R rules on fire features, so check your HOA's architectural guidelines before work starts. If you are in the Pinal County part of the Valley, including San Tan Valley and part of Queen Creek, Pinal County runs its own air-quality program; check its rules for wood fires.

Building it to last in the desert

A pit that once burned wood often has no drain, so the first monsoon storm turns the bowl into a pond around the new burner. We add drainage and keep the pan above any standing water. Enclosed pits also need openings for combustion air and, for propane, which is heavier than air, a low path out so gas cannot collect.

Fire glass and lava rock both work. Glass looks cleaner but shows dust after a haboob; rock hides it.