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TIKI Brand added to their outdoor fire pit line earlier this fall with the released of the Chiminea Outdoor Fireplace. It has the shape of a traditional Chiminea from hundreds of years ago but it’s updated with a number of features that make it really enjoyable to use. TIKI sent us one to see firsthand how it worked.
Fuel Versatility
What makes the TIKI Chiminea really shine is that you can use it with a variety of different fuel types. If you want a traditional outdoor fireplace experience, you can use it with regular old firewood.
A different option is to TIKI’s Wood Packs, which we first saw, and really liked, in their smokeless fire pit. It’s a pack that’s filled with pellets, and you can easily start it by lighting the corners of the bag. What’s really nice about it is it gives you a predictable 30 minute fire.
The last option for fuel, is my favorite, it has an onboard pellet hopper that uses gravity to feed the fire with pellets. This is by far the easiest because there’s no tending to the fire, you just let it give you continual warmth and ambience,
Summary
This is another great product from TIKI Brand. Like all TIKI products we’ve tested, it’s design focus sets it apart from everything else on the market. It has a couple cons, but there are also easy solutions that don’t take away from the enjoyability of the product. This Chiminea is perfect for an outdoor living space because it takes the pain points out of having a fire.
Features and Specs
- Retail price of $599 (check price)
- It’s ready to go out of the box with an included a cloth cover, gloves and a fire poker
- Provides up to a 4 foot heat radius for those cool night
- Includes a metal screen for safety
- Cleaning is made easy with a slide out ash pan at the bottom
- The height of of chimney is 70.25 inches
Assembly
Assembly of the Chiminea was a pretty easy and straightforward process. If you’ve ever put together any furniture from Ikea or elsewhere, then putting this together is no problem.
TIKI did a good job of thinking about what could go wrong with assembly and then designing the process to make sure it didn’t happen. A great example of this is you know that the chimney section is put on correctly because you can see, and use, the screw holes. If you can’t see them, it means it isn’t aligned correctly and you won’t be able to proceed with putting it together incorrectly.
It was also really nice that the Chiminea came with a cover, gloves, and a fire poker. That’s everything you need (except wood) to use it. It’s a bummer on some other products when you take everything out only to realize you have to buy more accessories.
Using the Outdoor Fireplace
Cord Wood
When it comes to wood logs, you use the Chiminea just like any other fireplace or fire pit. Put some kindling in first with some rolled-up newspaper or a fire starter to get it going, then put wood on top of it.
One thing worth noting is that the space inside the Chiminea is a little tight when using standard, full-size splits. I’d recommend either using splits cut in half, or split your wood down pretty narrow. Otherwise you can’t fit more than one split, and it will rest above the coal bed, rather than in it.
Pellets
For using pellets from the hopper, there is a pellet adapter than you place under the chute where the pellets come out. The pellets are gravity-fed, so as they burn, more will fall down. There is a handle on the back of the hopper to open and close the flow of pellets.
You can start the pellets by placing one or two fire starters on the pellets that have dispensed into the base of the Chiminea. It will take a little bit of time to catch and reach full-flame. When you’re done, you can turn the handle on the back to close the pellet hopper off from the fire and let it burn out.
The pellets are a great way to keep an easy fire going. If you’re going to use pellets often for your fires, look for heating pellets rather than BBQ pellets. They’ll be much cheaper to buy, though they aren’t food grade if you plan on roasting marshmallows.
I don’t know that this is “TIKI Approved” but I also found you could switch from pellets to logs while using it. Just use some fire pit tools to safely remove the pellet adapter. Then put on the heat resistant gloves and carefully add wood on top of the burning pellets.
While the pellet option is great, there is one issue that we found when using pellets. After a fire, the pellets left in the hopper towards the pellet chute would jam more frequently. Looking at them it looks like they came in contact with moisture and expanded even though there was no rain when we tested it.
I think what’s happening is water vapor is in smoke when a fire burns. I think some of that vapor is going up the pellet chute and expanding the pellets. Why this is just a minor inconvenience is because TIKI must have realized this happened in testing and created a solution.
There is a hole in the back of the pellet hopper that the included fire poker fits into. When you put the poker through the hole, it comes through the pellet chute and easily clears any jams. That makes it not a big deal.
If you ever want to empty out the pellet hopper you can do this too. If you remove the ash pan and the metal piece where hot coals collect on the bottom, you can open the chute into a container and empty the hopper.
Pros
- Fuel versatility
- Looks great
- Comes with everything you need
Cons
- Can’t fit standard sized wood splits
- Pellet chute jams at next use
Conclusion
The TIKI Brand Chiminea Outdoor Fireplace does a great job of adding some warmth while also looking great. It performs how you want it to when you look at what it can do. There is a hiccup with pellet jams, but they include a way to fix it, so it’s not a major inconvenience. Overall the Chiminea is easy to use, which gives you more opportunities to enjoy cozy nights outside.